What is your favorite "self-published" book?

Does self publishing scare you away, or are you one of the dedicated readers out there who will devour a good book no matter how it ended up in print?

A great example of a very successful self-published author is Christopher Paolini. His Eragon series has proven he is a gifted writer. He was 15 when he wrote his first draft to Eragon. His family believed in him and published the book in 2001. Two years later, Alfred A. Knofp Books for Young Readers published Eragon and it was an instant success.

My favorite "self-published" book is Journey into the Realm: The Elf Girl by Markelle Grabo. Quite similar to Christopher, Markelle started writing story ideas in fifth grade, and as a freshmen she took it more seriously. Like Christopher's family, Markelle's parents supported her, and two years later with an editor, and graphic designer, and acceptance by POD House, Booklocker.com. Journey into the Realm: the Elf Girl became reality. Since the debut of this 1st book in the 6 book series the author has had successful book signings,guest appearances, good sales and some very good reviews. Her readers are waiting patiently for the second installment which is expected out April 2012.

I invite you to visit www.markellegrabo.com where you can read the 1st chapter, see the book trailer and learn more about this young author. Share the website with those you know love fantasy. Become a fan of her Facebook page and she'll keep you up to date on her journey.

And finally, please share with all of us your favorite self published author/book.

Tags: MarkelleGrabo, fantasy, fiction, published-self

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ms.Tiptress on August 3, 2011 at 4:17am

I love to read.. Thats it. I dont care how its published.. Although I'm still debating on the "e-book" Epidemic.

I am dedicated to reading self published authors alot of the time they don't get the respect that they deserve. Some are awesome writers, and others, well... maybe they need just a few more tips (not from me, I just review) lol.

I know that I could be a little harsh on some writers, but I feel that If i dont tell the truth then someone will get hurt. By that I mean somone will purchase the book and be mad that they did.. (I know I would be)

But I have had the chance to read some awesome awesome writers.. Im talking awesome..

1. Shawna Hill "Intimate Illusions" and "In Between Lies".. (these were just awesome stories, its a series and it is a must read. Packed with drama, lies, and sex)

2. Leonard D. Hilley "Predators of Darkness". (Fear what lurks in the dark, and fear I did.. very good and action packed I finished the second in this series review to come)

3. Steve Richer "The Kennedy Secret" (I just finished this one, review not up yet but wow, I liked where he took this story, it leaves you to think is this what really happened??)

By the way this was an awesome discussion. We need more posts like this. Highliting the awesome self published authors..

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Permalink Reply by Dave Schofield on August 4, 2011 at 7:49pm

This will go down very badly I'm afraid - as I realise this is a website mainly populated by self-published authors, but no I don't read any self published stuff. Yes it drives me away. Some failed applicants to the Police force make excellent security guards, but at the end of the day they are security guards. If a book is excellent it will be published properly, but it takes time and energy and education to get there. Self publishing evidences funds, and for that reason I don't like it. I notice your favorite has the same surname as you have - it's your daughter perhaps, or sister? I'm sure it is smashing but it isn't true when self-published authors say it wasn't trendy enough. There are a wide range of proper genre publishers out there for all tastes. I believe some of the self published books being reviewed on these sites have a dreadful level of English grammar and usage I've seen it and am always surprised that people send off their manuscript with such horrific errors. There are hundreds of thousands of great books published in the world, why would anyone read amateur writers offerings when Hemmingway, Faulkes, Attwood, Waters, Chandler, Dickens, Bronte etc etc. exist. It would in my mind be like calling a security guard rather than the police if your house was being robbed.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Oliver on August 5, 2011 at 7:47am

My dear Mr Schofield I have read many published books (Not self published) with many mistakes and bad grammar and to be honest not great stories. As for your comparisons I would like to point out that Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights an absolute classic I am sure you would agree. This was paid to be published by Emily Bronte herself, a sum of £50 which I understand she never recouped before her early death. A shame when a recently sold first edition sold for over a quarter of a million. Had she not self published all those years ago what a classic we would have missed.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Schofield on August 5, 2011 at 4:08pm

Ian

I did not know that I thought they published under the guise of men at first, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Fail on my part.

But she was in the 1830's. I stick to my opinions. I have read bad novels that I didn't enjoy, I've never read a properly published novel by harper collins, Penguin Little Brown the big ones etc etc which had grammatical errors in I must admit. I just read The God of Small Things, a frickin Booker Prize Winner and it was awful, just drivel broke all the rules. But I am convinced that if someone wrote a book which was trully good enough it would be picked up by an actual publisher and they wouldn't have to pay. Also the road to publishing an actual novel (a road I'm hopefully on) is a tough road, via BA, MA, writers groups, writers courses, lots of crit, paying for professional assessment, lots of written emails, letters and a ton of published short stories as a practice, blogs, websites, self promotion, twitter, building up a following etc.. The road to self publishing involves nothing. So I guess I resent the simplicity of just handing over some money and getting your book on a plate it doesn't exclude anyone. For instance I don't know if you do but if you self publish amazing books, you still have to conceed that Tom, Dick, and Harry too send their books and a cheque to the same publisher, books they wrote one night after a big session on the beer, and they get them published too...how can you vouch for their books?

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Permalink Reply by Ian Oliver on August 8, 2011 at 6:23am

Dave, I do understand your comments and do agree most in part. Tom, Dick and Harry all can send a cheque and get in to print, but Tom may just have great talent and just got frustrated at all the rejection from publishers that even a lot of best selling authors today have had to go through. While Dick and Harry may have very little talent and will just lose money and fade away into obscurity, perhaps fulfilling their vanities. My question is, does it really matter if now and then we find some wonderful writing?

I know it must be a little annoying to authors who have served their time, but unfortunately it is here and won't go away, but I am sure that true talent will always shine through which ever way it comes. Myself I write for me, because I just love doing it, and just like to share it with others who want to share it. I have lots of stories to tell but under no illusions about being a great writer.

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Permalink Reply by Ms.Tiptress on November 5, 2011 at 10:10am

I agree with you also. It hard out there for real writers, if you look now, just about every celebrity has a book published by some main stream company and most of them were ghost wrote!!

And then you have a self published author who has worked his arse off and gets rejected from a publishing company because they have to many books on their desk waiting to be published. It's like the "everybody wants to be a rapper epidemic".

I read self published authors because I understand hard work. There are some awesome AWESOME writers out there who are self publised and then the ones that are bad. and Im not afraid to say it was the worse book ever. BUT. I have also read some books published by a main stream publishing company that sucked far worse then some of the self published authors..

I think its all about the book you choose not they way it was published.

(I saw this post so late) lol..

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PublicistPermalink Reply by Maryanne Grabo on September 19, 2011 at 11:40pm

I very much agree, had she not self publilshed we many not have ever been graced with the classic.

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Permalink Reply by Marian Perera on September 30, 2011 at 7:02pm

I once decided to review some self-published books on my blog, so I started out with six of them.

One was terrible - so poorly edited it was almost unreadable. Two were bland. Two I couldn't finish. One was a keeper. Unfortunately my time and money is limited, and one out of six is not good odds for me, so in general I don't read self-published books. The exception is if the author has been commercially published and I know they're capable of excellent writing. So my favorite self-published book is a nonfiction guide for writers of hot romances, by Stacia Kane (who's also published through Ellora's Cave and Del Rey).

As for Christopher Paolini being self-published, his parents actually owned a small press, Paolini International : http://inheritance.wikia.com/wiki/Paolini_International_LLC. They published the first version of Eragon. Paolini was also home-schooled, so he was able to take a great deal of time off touring schools to promote his book.

Marian

Flights of Fantasy

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PublicistPermalink Reply by Maryanne Grabo on November 5, 2011 at 8:16pm

I did not know that his parents actually owned the press. I did some more research on him - thanks for that info. I am still very much impressed with his work and success. I have a feeling that even if his parents did not own a press, they would have found a way to make his dream and talent shine. I hope you don't give up on self-published authors. In the short amount of time that I have been involved in this with my daughter - I have learned that we made a good sound decision hiring a qualified editor, and we have hired her again for book #2. We were very worried about making a good impression. We have not found any errors and no one has pointed them out thus far.

Anyway...I am currently reading Fire Fly Lane by Kristen Hannah. I love, love, love the book, but I have found numerous errors, and it is not self-published.