This weekend, I asked in both a post here and at Romance Divas for recommendations of books from small press. I didn’t limit by genre, but I did specify that people couldn’t recommend their own book, they had to have read the book (no recommending your friend’s book just because 
) and that it had to be over 12,000 words. No genre restrictions, since I’ll read pretty much anything. Maybe it was the holiday weekend, but this seemed to be harder than I thought it would be (with the number of people on Romance Divas who write and read small press, I expected more recommendations from there, actually).
I ended up buying about 11 books, ranging in genre and from 8 different small presses.
It was interesting, though, the things I learned about buying/reading small press as a result of this.
1) Distribution is important. I ruled out any press/book that I couldn’t buy at an online bookstore (I didn’t want to enter my credit card number 7 times, so I didn’t want to shop direct from publishers this time, though I often do for certain presses). So any publisher/book that wasn’t available at Fictionwise, AllRomanceEbooks or BooksOnBoard I didn’t even consider. I think one stop shopping is important because most customers are not going to be like me, and hunt 3 different places for all the books they want. They’re going to buy what’s available where it’s convenient for them. Also, a publisher without distribution isn’t catching the “browsers” at the online bookstores.
2) Price to word count is also important. There were a few books that I would have bought based on the blurb, but when I checked the word count versus the price, I quickly changed my mind. I’m sorry, but $5-$6 for a 25-30k book is obscene. To give you an idea, a book that length is about half the length of a normal Harlequin Desire or Presents (category). Half.
3) Word count matters. I found that I very much appreciated Fictionwise putting the exact word count on the books. Most small presses have a word count range for each book, some a large spread, so you don’t know if you’re buying and getting the low end of 30k or the high end of 60k at that price. I based a lot of my purchasing decisions on Fictionwise’s provided word count. It made for easier shopping and I appreciated that.
4) Sales sell books (at least to me). I ended up doing almost all of my shopping at Fictionwise because of their great anniversary sale. I bought more than I would have otherwise, but the psychology of it also hit me, because when I went to look at other sites, I found myself more reluctant to buy a “full price” book.
The reading experience. At the end of the weekend, I had read 7 books from 6 different presses (still have two presses unread from my weekend purchases):
1) I appreciate good metadata. I put all of my books into Calibre for two reasons: Cataloging and transfer to my Sony. Since most of the books came from Fictionwise, and were multi-format, I believe that means that Fictionwise actually formatted them. And Fictionwise doesn’t have the best metadata. It’s okay, but not great. I know I work for Samhain, but I have to tell you, the metadata kicked ass when I put the books into Calibre. (Yes, Samhain was one of the presses I read this weekend). The Samhain metadata includes title, author name, publisher, release date AND the book blurb. It was beautiful. Now, to be fair, since I didn’t buy direct from the other publishers, I don’t know what their own metadata is like, but for a digital book, metadata is important!
2) The blurb at the front of the book (after the cover) is convenient. Once I’d put the 11 books on my Sony, I didn’t necessarily remember what each was about and I appreciated those publishers who put the blurb at the front of the book. It made it easy for me to decide if that was the book I wanted to read right then.
3) Editing matters. And not all small presses are created equal in editing. I am not critical of small errors that slip in. Boy, wouldn’t that be hypocritical? And I have actually gotten pretty good at turning my internal editor off when needed for pleasure reading. But there were some books where it wasn’t possible to do that and I found myself thinking that I would be reluctant to buy 1) from that press again and 2) that author again. Editing matters and small press needs to do better than traditional press at this, unfortunately, because we come under greater scrutiny. People expect small press epublished books to be badly edited and that’s unfortunate for all of us!
4) A good premise can’t trump bad editing/execution. For me, at least, and I think maybe other readers, I realized that though I appreciated the idea of the story/plot, even the freshness of a good premise was overcome by poor editing and execution. Awkward dialogue, stilted narrative, inconsistent plot threads…those things matter.
5) Explicit words and descriptions don’t make a scene sexy. The eroticism of a scene depends on more than the words/acts the author uses and has her characters engaging in. It depends on the intimacy of the setting, the sensuality of the moment and the connection the characters have to each other, and I have to them. Some authors have an amazing talent writing this.
6) I appreciate small press for its diversity. One thing about the recommendations I got and the books I read, is that they were diverse, not just in genre, but also in length. It was nice to be able to choose a shorter book to read just before bed, but a longer book to indulge in during the day, and to be able to get everything from a m/m/f BDSM romance to sweet contemporary.
Great article that I am going to share with my publisher. I would definitely be interested to know which books you purchased and your ratings for each as to: worth the money, want more by this author, and waste of time? LOL
Excellent article… Rebecca is right. Our publishers need to know that readers care about these things. Authors should read titles before they commit to a press.
Thanks for this careful review of this growing industry.
~Ashley
Interesting blog. I write for a small press (eXtasy Books) and it’s a very competitive market. My publisher makes it clear how many pages and words a book has and her pricing is very fair.
I have written full-length novels and shorter pieces for her (25 published so far). I have also written a few “fantasy game” stories for her, minimum of 5,000 words (max 10,000) and they are each priced at 1.59. That, I think is good value!
I would love to know what you bought and how you rated the books too.
You don’t really say if covers put you off or encouraged you to buy…I’d be curious to know.
I really enjoyed this post. I’d say that 90% of the books I read/ buy are ebooks from small presses and I hear you on all of those issues.
#2 -is a big issue. I see the many small epubs charge a ridiculous amount of money for what they offer. Unfortunately for me, I like reading a certain sub genre that is not very popular so I’m kind of stuck paying that if I want to read it. But some pubs are far worse than others in that dept.
#3- is a biggy as well. And seriously, I so suck at grammar that if even I notice these things, it’s really bad. I can’t imagine what it’s like for someone who gets good editing and writing. Kind of like how I can’t listen to a horrible sound system.
#5- Amen! I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read with graphically written slot A into Slot B that had all the eroticism of stepping in doggy poo. Seriously. Major turn off. And there there are authors who aren’t graphic at all and I’m running for the fan because what was written is very erotic.
#6- is why I mostly read small epub books.
I agree that editing is extremely important, perhaps especially more so for small presses. Bad editing puts me off as a reader, and also as an author.
Very interesting article.
The ebooks I could think of that I loved — are mostly from Samhain. >_>
That said, I don’t tend to read a lot of ebooks because I spend too much time on the computer as it is. Hopefully I can weasel an ebook reader or PDA for Yule this year. Mwah.
I completely agree with #3a. I’ve gone looking around at various e-pubs and I have to wonder how some are selling with their pricing. I feel cheated if I’m paying novel prices for a novella or short story. Unless it’s by a friend or somebody whose work I really like, I won’t pick it up.
I believe Fictionwise has been using Calibre for it’s multiformat books for some time now. As you know, the metadata in it (and in mobicreator) allows the author to place the blurb there (and reviews, if using mobicreator, so they can be separated in their own location). There is no reason a small press can’t switch to Calibre and start delivering better quality ebooks, since they add the metadata once, then a few clicks generates the formatted file (and Calibre supports several file formats, although not all of them, as output formats).
@AJ I’ve never been comfortable rating/reviewing other small press books because I feel some people would look on that as me bashing the competition. I just bought a bunch more at Fictionwise. I think, in maybe a week or so, once I’ve had time to read a few more, I’ll do a post of titles and publishers I read from and maybe do some general comments.
@Karen Using Calibre to create formats is an easy way for publishers to do things, but not necessarily the best way, because you depend on Calibre to render all of your formatting correctly and professionally. Now, I’m biased, but I think the formatting of our books is superior to Fictionwise’s formatting, by a mile. I think the books from Fictionwise look fine, but they look…like ebooks. A well-done, well formatted ebook can look polished and put together, like a rendering of a print book.
Also, if Fictionwise does use Calibre, I do wish they’d put the blurbs in the metadata. They don’t right now. Just wordcount in the comments, and a (often incorrect and unspecific) genre. But Fictionwise’s genre/categories are a whole other rant I could go off on
GREAT post! Thanks for organizing your thoughts like this. Two notes I’m taking away is to post exact word counts and place the blurb after the cover.
Very cool. Thanks!
trav
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