Navigating Indies – How do you find good independent authors?
I often have no idea if I’m reading an indie (independently or self-published book) or not – and you may not, either. Many of the old cues, like schlocky covers, aren’t giveaways anymore. Although a more expensive ebook (say, $7.99 USD and up) is usually traditionally published, the less expensive ones could go either way.
All right, you say, I’ll check the “publisher” data. Well, that may not help. A book published by Hodgkin and Blount is clearly the product of a small press, right? Nope! For tax and rights reasons, many indie authors have incorporated their own presses. Hodgkin and Blount is Gregory Ashe’s. Other authors in this model include Lucinda Brant (Sprigleaf Pty) and Mia Vincy (Inner Ballad Press). Simultaneously, books which seem to be indies can actually be reissues of books which were previously traditionally published but were republished by the author after the rights reverted to them. Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s Hometown Memories series and some of Stella Riley‘s earlier works fall into this category.
Many writers are what’s called hybrid authors. They produce traditional, publishing-house backed novels, but also intermittently self-pub (the author team Ilona Andrews has a great blog post exploring hybrid publishing). If you fall in love with someone through their more widely marketed and publicized trad books and follow them to their entire backlist, you’ll get a mix of trad and indie. Courtney Milan followed this model in her early career and in recent years has gone full indie (writing about it here). Major genre names like Kennedy Ryan and KJ Charles are actively publishing in this model.
Yes, you may say, those are indie WORKS. But those are not purely indie AUTHORS. How do I find a new indie author, one I’ve never seen in print? And more than that – how do I find a good one, especially without lots of hit-or-miss spending? Indies are widely reviewed on Goodreads but I have zero success getting useful information out of Goodreads. Since indies are less likely to be in library collections, I can’t experiment there.
Well, as a reviewer, I’m able to take some risks on ARCs I can obtain from Netgalley. Unfortunately, I’ve had a few Netgalley releases which were downright painful to read. Nowadays, when I try a new indie, I usually check if they have a freebie (or at least a Look Inside) on Amazon or an excerpt on their website. This helps me weed out authors who are honestly fundamentally illiterate. Also, even though I’m a romance reviewer at a dedicated romance site, I don’t always get approved for romance novels on Netgalley. Some indie authors have their own marketing and street teams, and don’t bother with anything else.
Anecdotally, the best indies I’ve discovered independently of AAR reviews tend to be from non-Goodreads lists with titles like “Best Asian American romance novels,” “Top diverse romance novels of 2020,” or “Historical romances with unusual settings.” In this interview with Shondaland, indie romance author Nia Forrester explained that due to the lack of diversity in publishing employees, it’s hard to pitch a diverse story to them: “You’re not only explaining the book, you’re simultaneously explaining to publishers — most of whom are white women of a certain class — the very existence of the people you’re writing about.” Some Indie authors of color with multiple strong reviews here are Jackie Lau, Melanie Ting, and Christina C. Jones.
It’s not just diversity in racial and ethnic terms. Publishing skews white and female, but it also skews cisgender and heterosexual. Much early queer romance publishing was indie, and many queer stories remain so. Top indie LGBTQ+ authors here include K.J. Charles and Jay Hogan.
Additionally, certain subgenres are more commonly found in indies. Erotic stories and stories featuring kink proliferate (for instance, Husky by Jessa Kane, or books by Sierra Simone). For indie SF/Fantasy, AAR has had good experiences with Michelle Diener, Grace Draven, and the steampunk paranormals of Bec McMaster.
Many indie authors lift each other up, so if you find someone you like, their recommendations may lead you to good new voices. One indie community I love and have found much success in is the #RomanceClass group of writers from the Philippines (Bianca Mori graciously did an interview with me here; and I have a separate DIK from Mina V. Esguerra).
I wish I had a better answer for to the “how do you find good indies?” question, but it would seem the best way is by word of mouth. Somewhere, a legitimate reviewer (not a squeeing five-star fangirl or a paid promoter) takes a risk, and then goes to bat for that book and its author – and hopefully it grows from there.
So in that spirit, in addition to the books and authors linked to above, all of whom we recommend, here are further indie books AAR has enjoyed!
Historical:
The Fly Me to the Moon series by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by K.J. Charles
The Reckless Brides series by Elizabeth Essex (NB – originally traditionally published, but since re-published by the author).
The Lotus Palace Mysteries by Jeannie Lin
King’s Man by Sally Malcolm
The Gangster by C.S. Poe
One Night of Passion by Erica Ridley
Midwinter Magic by Stella Riley
Contemporary:
The Love at Last Box Set by Adriana Anders
Cold, Cruel Kiss by Toni Anderson
Pinot and Pineapple Lumps by Jay Hogan
Bench Player by Julianna Keyes
The Quiet House by Lily Morton
P*rn Star and Hot Cop by Laurelin Paige and Sierra Simone, now available in a boxed set
Marriage and Murder by Penny Reid
His Compass by Con Riley
Grading Curves by Naima Simone
Crushing On You by Jen Trinh
Do you have any recommendations for ways to discover new indie authors? What indie authors should we be exploring here?
~ Caroline Russomanno
I’ve been on a Laura Florand reread glom. I had forgotten how wonderful and fun her descriptions are! I want to wrap myself up and wallow in these books.
Her first series about chocolate was published by a traditional publisher.
Her series about perfume was self published. Highly recommend!
I have a few more indies to recommend that I thought of after this post!
Lydia San Andres – historical romances set in the Edwardian Caribbean.
Pas de Deux by Lynn Turner – about a Misty Copeland-esque megastar ballet dancer and a hot choreographer
Sugar Pie Guy by Tabitha True – love at a disco in Cleveland in the 1970s.
AAR is my source for the indie titles and authors I read because I don’t have the time to go on wide searches. Suggestions also come up within the Comments from others whose opinions I share. I’ve gotten a lot of good indie reads from you all – Stella Riley, Bec McMaster, and Mia Vincy. (That’s a lot of great reading!) And I loved Again.
Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s Again is the greatest romance buried treasure of all time and I will hear no arguments to the contrary.
I find authors the same way many of us do, I guess – reviews/recommendations and deals that encourage me to give an unfamiliar author a try. I never thought to read KJ Charles despite seeing a lot of talk about Think of England, but then A Seditious Affair was free, so of course I had to get it, and read the other Society of Gentlemen series, and so on. I don’t think those were indie books, though.
Sometimes I follow traditionally published authors as they switch to self-publishing. In other cases, I eventually drop them because they let their standards slip: less rigorous editing, more self-indulgent, fan-servicey writing.
KJ Charles is worth reading no matter who’s publishing the books. In addition to some of the others mentioned, I’ll also add Karina Bliss and Sarina Bowen to the list of authors who have done well while publishing their own work. I’m not sure how much traditional publishing Bowen has done, if any; Bliss used to write Harlequin Superromances, but the rights have reverted to her so no more horrible covers (whoever was responsible for Stand-In Wife has A LOT to answer for). I think the Rock Solid books were self-published from the beginning. Tammara Webber started out self-publishing, and may still be doing that (she hasn’t had anything new out in ages, unfortunately).
Sorry if this is something everyone else knows, but I have to say that I find this all very confusing. I did not realize that some of the books I’ve been reading are indie published vs. mainstream. How can you tell? Why would someone who is already mainstream published want to indie publish? Or vice versa? I assume compensation plays a role as well as potential audience? I had no idea that KU refuses to allow libraries access to their books. Not nice! In terms of supporting authors, do you feel it is better support an indie author vs a mainstream published author?
Hi, Becky, I think I can answer your questions based on my own experiences with KDP. (If this gets too unwieldy or off-topic, we can always take this to the Agora and start a new thread there.)
1) How can you tell if a book is indie or mainstream? Look for the book on Amazon and then scroll down to the data where it says “Publisher.” If you don’t recognize the name, type it on Google. If it’s a small press or an imprint of a major publisher, there should be a website. If nothing comes up except maybe an author website, chances are, it’s probably self-published. E-books published through KDP list “Amazon Digital Services” as the publisher. Self-published paperbacks are listed as “Independently published.”
2) Why would someone who is already mainstream published want to indie publish? There are a number of reasons for this.
First, self-publishing gives the author far greater creative control than a traditional publisher would permit. True, there are some big time authors like Stephen King who can probably publish anything they want at any of the Big 5 without any pushback, but most authors are regarded as far more controllable and expendable. If your average trad pubbed author wants to write something experimental, controversial, or even just in a different subgenre, their publishing house can and usually will say, “no.” Indie publishing allows the author to go ahead and tell that story anyway.
Second, royalty rates with self-publishing are far higher than traditional publishing. True, traditionally published authors may get an advance depending on the contract, but royalty rates are somewhere between 6 – 15% as opposed to 35 – 70%. Smashwords, I think, pays 80%. So a hybrid author who has a significant following through their mainstream offerings may end up making more money through their self-publishing channels.
3) Is it better to support an indie or mainstream author? I would argue that unless you’re E.L. James, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or James Patterson, all authors need support regardless of their publishing arrangement. Like most artists and actors, most writers struggle financially. At the most, they may have a comfortable middle class existence solely from writing if they gain a big enough following and don’t get their contracts cancelled because of online kerfuffles. Also, most writers have another source of income, whether that’s from a traditional job or a supportive spouse. Those millionaire and billionaire writer success stories you read about are rare.
On that note, readers shouldn’t assume that they are helping indie authors by boycotting Amazon. This is a misconception that bugs me in some of my writing outside of erotica. People think they are being fantastic activists by ordering through a third party website instead. Let me assure you that Amazon doesn’t make a penny less when you do that; I do- to the tune of about half of what I would have made through a direct Amazon sale. Not cool.
If you want to continue this discussion, let’s set up a thread on the Agora. I’d be happy to answer any additional questions about publishing if I’m able. :-)
Thank you, Nan, that was very helpful. Publishing is much more complicated than I realized, but I am really glad authors have a variety of ways to get their work out there. I think I am good for now, but others may have more questions!
You’re welcome! I’m glad too that authors have more options than ever. It’s getting late, but maybe tomorrow or this weekend, I’ll start an Agora topic on the subject of indie publishers. Like you said, others might have questions.
Review sites like AAR, with AAR being my preferred or first stop. As many commenters here have noted, it’s a hunt and peck process. But finding reviewers and other commenters whose tastes I get to know is the most efficient way to find things I’m likely to enjoy.
There are lots of self-published authors who are auto-buys for me; and I’ve been aware of them choosing to remain self-published as their audiences grow. Yay for them! Except see note below.*
I commented on the upcoming May reads blog that I’m really looking forward to Alexis Hall’s newest title for exactly the opposite reason: Hall is one of the first writers I’m aware of who started out self-publishing who has been picked up by a major publisher (Sourcebooks released Boyfriend Material) and is making the jump from m/m to m/f romance with this latest title (although Caz says the heroine is bisexual so still in the LGBTQIA arena technically. But, still . . . progress at not having an author pigeon-holed into a particular “market” forever and ever.).
*Slight tangent: Lots of people use KU to “find” authors but I’d prefer that authors sell their books to libraries. That is where I “test” new to me authors. But because Amazon has so far been allowed to discriminate against libraries (by refusing to licensing ebooks published on their platform to libraries) I worry that Amazon is going to effectively put libraries out of business. (Why should taxpayers support libraries that cannot offer the titles consumers want to read?)
I hear you, but I’m not sure what the solution is. As someone who publishes through KDP, I enroll in KU knowing that libraries unfortunately cannot purchase my e-books and that it locks the book into exclusivity. In other words, I am not allowed to put any book in KU on Smashwords or any other competitor. In my case- and that of other high heat authors- this makes sense as few public libraries are going to carry self-published smut anyway. Fifty Shades of Grey? Sure, it’s mainstream. But Spanked by the Femdom Librarian? Not going to happen. Even lower heat or no heat indie authors are going to have a tough time getting into libraries, so there’s really not an incentive to eschew the current KU model.
However, I have also published nonfiction paperbacks through KDP (then CreateSpace) that have been picked up by libraries (not under the Nan De Plume name, so don’t bother trying to verify through WorldCat). Maybe more indie authors should consider offering paperback editions of their work and enroll them in expanded distribution? But even that’s not a great solution as a number of library systems will not purchase self-published paperbacks regardless of content quality.
This is an incredibly timely post for me! So far, my reading year has revolved around reading traditionally published new releases and “back list” indies that I’ve long seen recommended around Romancelandia, and the traditionally published stuff has been…rough going. Or just very bland? I want to know about more indies too!
To find indies, I look on review sites, as well as social media and Romance Booktube. It helps that I’ve gotten to know my own taste fairly well so if someone describes a book as “like YA” or “low steam/closed door” or “low angst”, chances are excellent it won’t be a good fit for me. I also gravitate towards SF/fantasy/dystopian romance over contemporary paranormal (although I love historical paranormals like Bec McMaster’s), prefer my reverse harem stories without much m/m, and need to be in the right mood for dark romance, which all narrows the field.
If a book isn’t in KU, I’ll download a sample since I usually know immediately if the writing style works for me (gosh, there’s a broad range of writing quality in SF indie romance!). I tend to follow people on Goodreads who either have similar taste or write detailed enough reviews that I’m able to understand whether a book might work for me, which also helps in the search for interesting indies. Using KU makes it easier too, as I’m able to try the first book in a popular series and find out if it clicks for me (I wasn’t into Danielle Lori or Cora Reilly’s dark mafia series, despite how widely recommended they are on Youtube).
I check here and other sites for reviews that sound interesting; if an ebook comes up on sale, I’ll give it a try. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve come to be a fan of K.J. Charles and Courtney Milan that way; if a book doesn’t work for me and I bought it on sale, I haven’t lost much. Some of those are of passing interest, but the author won’t be one of my autobuys.
A lot of the authors I enjoy are “Indie” or part Indie now, but got their start and got known through traditional publishing first.
One of the few totally independent authors I can think of is Kristen Ashley. She began, as far as I know, totally independent and moved onto some kind of hybrid or partial arrangement.
I know there are people who became big under Kindle/KU (such as Ruby Dixon) but were established as a NYT bestselling author under her other (kept secret) pseudonym.
Penny Reid is another one that’s been completely Indie, and still is.
What a great, timely topic for AAR!
I agree that hybrid authors often have the best of both worlds in that you can see their mainstream catalog offerings and then follow them to their website of small press or independently published work. Here are some more tips to keep in mind:
1) This may be more relevant for genre fiction outside of romance, such as fantasy, science fiction, and horror, but don’t underestimate the power of anthologies. If you find a collection of short stories at the library, check out the authors whose work you liked. Sometimes the person has only published short stories, which is great if you like shorts, but a number of these writers get published in anthologies in order to drive traffic to their longform work- often self-published. Same with physical or online magazines. Follow the link of a story you liked, and you might be pleasantly surprised to discover the author self-published a book.
2) Take a note of interesting small presses when you find them and follow the press rather than chasing after individual authors. For example, while sniffing out writing opportunities years ago, I stumbled across Ashland Creek Press. They specialize in eco-friendly topics that spill over into fiction. Thus far, they haven’t published a capital-R romance, but a couple of their literary offerings I have read feature relationships that end with an HEA/HFN. So yay!
3) This is more of a writer research tool, but it might work for readers as well. Search Amazon in a private browser to prevent the algorithm from tailoring your results to your search and purchase history. By browsing anonymously, you may be able to use keywords to find work that wouldn’t ordinarily pop up as it doesn’t fit your profile.
Other than that, a lot of discovering indie authors and titles comes down to word of mouth and serendipity. For whatever reason, I have this uncanny ability to stumble into obscure little gems.
I wish I knew how to BE found!
Me too. :-) I’m an indie author writing M/F, F/F, M/M, and M/M/F (so far). Some reviewers might classify them as chick lit or gaylit rather than romance. I consider them romance novels because a) there is always a central love story and b) there is always a happy ending, and many of them are tropey. Constantly tweaking the book descriptions etc to make it easier for a potential reader to tell what they’d be getting.
But I’m not on NetGalley (yet; it costs money and takes time to manage, and I have to budget both) and I haven’t been very successful getting reviews by pitching. One of my M/M titles has two good reviews. Another was reviewed here and the result was, let’s say, demoralizing.
I’m on Facebook, there’s an author website/blog, I’m listed with QueeRomance Ink and a regular commenter/advertiser on SBTB. Also active on other author blogs, some of which have trackback (meaning commenters can link to other commenters’ websites).
I do regular free/sale promotions via Facebook which have produced some sales and ratings. Fortunately I’m not trying to replace my day-job income by writing, but there are definitely days when I think ‘I just want someone besides me to *read* this.’ Well, to read it and not then tell the world that they hate it. :-)
“there are definitely days when I think ‘I just want someone besides me to *read* this.’ Well, to read it and not then tell the world that they hate it. :-)”
Lol! I know the feeling. Listen, I started a topic on the Agora if you want to commiserate: Indie Romance Publishing Q&A + Thoughts – All Things Romance – the Agora@AAR (allaboutromance.com).
I went to Agora to follow this chat and set up a user name and pw but the site says an administrator has to approve first. I’m not sure who to ask about this. Thanks!
I’ll send you a password.
If it helps, I find a lot of indie authors through Twitter. The ones I end up following the most write about other things but also plug their books — and plug the books of other authors. Some authors love Facebook, but many don’t find that as useful for marketing, and they seem to prefer Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
Even if I don’t buy the book right away, I might at least add that book to my wishlist, then check the reviews (to make sure the spelling and grammar are good), samples, etc.
I’m a bit addicted to TW. Just followed you.
I really enjoy Ainslie Paton and I’m 99% sure she’s hybrid Indie.
Honestly, I just look at the author and synopsis and see if it’s someting I’d be interested in. The only time I DO check the publisher at the moment is to see if it’s published by Dreamspinner – I don’t want to patronise a publisher who isn’t paying its authors.
Most of the good queer romance continues to be published by authors or smaller companies like Carina, Riptide, Nine Star etc. Looking at my TBR for the next few months (and what I’ve reviewed this year so far), the number of self-published and small press books on there far outweighs books from the big traditional publishers.