This is totally an unscheduled post and I almost did this as a Facebook status update, but it would have been too long.
Anyway, I had this idea last night for a blog series in which I pick a self-published YA book and start reading it...I jot down my reader opinoin thoughts and possibly some writer opinoin thoughts and read until I either finish or lose interest. Then I explain my thoughts in a blog post.
This series will be called something like, "The Great YA Self-Pubbed Search."
But I have a feeling this might be taboo or highly frowned upon, so I figured I'd explain why I want to do this and then hopefully some (or all) of you can weigh in with your opinoin.
Here's my inspiration behind this theme....first off, I know everyone talks about the self-pubbed stigma and the friction between the traditionally pubbed authors vs the self published authors and all of that, but I'm being 100% honest when I say that before my first introduction to a self published YA novel, I didn't even know this stigma existed. I don't think I even realized how to tell if a book was self published at first. I thought all the e-books on Amazon where published by Amazon digital services.
Over a year and a half ago, I read a book called BETWEEN THE LINES by Tammara Webber...I stumbled on it on goodreads and it sounded awesome. And then I went to purchase it on my Kindle and it was like $2.99 or $3.99 and I was like Sweet! Bargain book. And then I read it and just looooved it. Had no idea it was self-published...then my Kindle started recommending all these other books that were $2.99 and I was like, this is amazing! I can read three of these $2.99 books or one of the $9.99 and for someone who averages three books a week, $2.99 sounded like the way to go.
I started reading these books...the descriptions sounded good and everything....but the writing and the plot and a whole bunch of other stuff was just not readable in 99.9% of the books. I got really frustrated because my book budget was tight and I just wanted some fun books to read like BETWEEN THE LINES and I was almost mad at Tammara Webber for spoiling me like that. It's all her fault. Luckily, she wrote three more amazing books after that first one.
Just as a side note, I'd never heard of or read E.L. James or Amanda Hocking's books until the traditionally published versions were out so I can't throw them into my opinoin mix as far as reading a version that hadn't been touched by a big 6 editor. And btw, I did an event with Amanda in August and let me tell you, she is one awesome lady with an amazing story, so trust me, I'm not people bashing.
BUT, when someone asks me what I think of self-published books, from my perspective, I have to honestly say that I haven't really found much that's even remotely near quality reading. Or if I'm really trying to divert from negativity, I'll say, "Well...I love Tammara Webber's books." HOWEVER, I have only read in the YA, MATURE YA, and NEW ADULT genres of self-published titles so I can't speak for adult books of any kind or anything else besides the above mentioned genres.
I'm not trying to be a snob or an intellectual or whatever I swear, I just want to know why, if all these thousands of people are self publishing, I can't find a decent YA story for $2.99/$3.99?! Please somebody suggest a title for me if you think I'm awful for even saying what I've said thus far! I'm not that picky. I'm really not. I don't even plan on delving into mechanics or grammar or those types of issues with the books I read.
Think of my situation like a person who has only been exposed to bruised bananas all their life and so they just tell everyone that they don't like bananas because what else are they going to say? Put a good banana in front of them and perhaps their opinoin will change.
So, do you guys want to see me discuss specific YA self-pubbed titles on my blog and explain my personal reader thoughts and state at what point I stop reading? Remember, I read A TON of YA books and I constantly run out of books to read, so I'm not going to get all writer-snobby on you or anything. I really mean it when I say, I love books and just want to find good ones. I don't want to do this with the intention of hurting someone or hating on their books, I only want to do it if it will be beneficial to my blog readers.
What's your vote: YES or No?? And do you have a specific title suggestion? Feel free to include a link but just YA or NEW ADULT stuff. I can't commit to reading every suggested title though because it has to spark my interest or else it's not fair to the author to have me discussing a book that's sub-genre isn't my thing anyway. **Hint--contemporary YA/NEW ADULT is my favorite.
