Best selfpublished Fantasy works?

Technically, Tim's Demon Squad, Jake Elliot's Wrong Way Down (as well as Lincoln Crisler's Wild) are not self-published. They are put out by the small press Damnation Books, which has quite a nice line up of dark fantasy, horror, hard-boiled mystery, anthologies, etc. I don't really count Mr. S. as self-pubbed officially either, as he is published by small press Ridan Publishing, which also has a nice looking line up of science fiction and fantasy authors, and now also by Orbit and other publishers, but since he did co-found Ridan Publishing with his wife, technically it counts, I guess. I've read Marquitz, Crisler and Sullivan, and I'd say they're all worth checking out if you're okay with dark fantasy and snarkiness. Marquitz's Demon Squad is kind of like Harry Dresden pumped up with a 1980's action movie and some horror. Very nice on the characters. Crisler's Wild, which is a short historical fantasy novel, is like a Poe story stuck into a western, with zombies. Sullivan, at this point four books in I would characterize him loosely as Fafhrd and Gray Mouser with a splash of Elric. Each book he seems to be taking on a different classic tale with his own interpretation in his own world, plus massive war and a really interesting overall plot. (Abercrombie is doing this too -- is this a thing now?) (Mike -- I think you'll like Marquitz.)

I also loved Wool, (which is SF, but post-apocalyptic and so may be of interest to fantasy fans.) Another self-pub I've read and liked was Australian author Lucas Thorn's Revenge of the Elf, the first book in his Nysta series. It's also a western, and I mean traditional western right down to the dialogue, but there aren't any guns and it's set in a world that is deliberately sword & sorcery, and I mean traditional sword & sorcery, except it all sounds like a western, and there is an interesting set-up of warring gods, bits of horror and funky monsters, things that resemble a Japanese martial arts film, and dark homage satire about westerns, sword & sorcery, horror and Japanese martial arts films. It's got a lot of violence and a lot of cursing, for those who like to know about such data, and an open ending which I thought was really good.

Other than that, I am woefully behind in the self-pub area, but hey, there are millions of them.
 
I recently read The Dread Hammer by Linda Nagata and gladly add it to this list. A short but smart little dark fantasy, she also does Sci-fi and has one a Nebula for one of her novella's.
 
People really need to check out Kenny Soward's Rough Magic. While he chose to go it alone, this story would have fit perfectly into Night Shade's lineup of great written, original, and just plain enjoyable books. This one is well worth picking up.

Another author, Edward M Erdelac, has just released the fourth and final book in his amazingly interesting, weird western series, the Merkabah Rider. While the first three books are through the loathsome publisher Kat attached to me above, this last book is self-published. That said, don't let that stop anyone from picking them all up. Ed's writing and storytelling are woefully under appreciated.

One more excellent self-published author would be J.M. Martin. Check out his novella, Tisarian's Treasure. He's got a great voice and excellent prose.

You can't go wrong with any of these folks.
 
Although it is SciFi, I really liked Evan Currie's WARRIOR's WINGS series. It starts with On Silver Wings. I have read the first 3 books. The books are all relatively short, but they are fun reads.

Cheers
 
To everybody who recommended Blood Song, thanks! This is one of those books where I shut my door at work and read instead.
 
To everybody who recommended Blood Song, thanks! This is one of those books where I shut my door at work and read instead.
 
KatG said:
Technically, Tim's Demon Squad, Jake Elliot's Wrong Way Down (as well as Lincoln Crisler's Wild) are not self-published. They are put out by the small press Damnation Books, which has quite a nice line up of dark fantasy, horror, hard-boiled mystery, anthologies, etc. I don't really count Mr. S. as self-pubbed officially either, as he is published by small press Ridan Publishing, which also has a nice looking line up of science fiction and fantasy authors, and now also by Orbit and other publishers, but since he did co-found Ridan Publishing with his wife, technically it counts, I guess. I've read Marquitz, Crisler and Sullivan, and I'd say they're all worth checking out if you're okay with dark fantasy and snarkiness. Marquitz's Demon Squad is kind of like Harry Dresden pumped up with a 1980's action movie and some horror. Very nice on the characters. Crisler's Wild, which is a short historical fantasy novel, is like a Poe story stuck into a western, with zombies. Sullivan, at this point four books in I would characterize him loosely as Fafhrd and Gray Mouser with a splash of Elric. Each book he seems to be taking on a different classic tale with his own interpretation in his own world, plus massive war and a really interesting overall plot. (Abercrombie is doing this too -- is this a thing now?) (Mike -- I think you'll like Marquitz.)

I also loved Wool, (which is SF, but post-apocalyptic and so may be of interest to fantasy fans.) Another self-pub I've read and liked was Australian author Lucas Thorn's Revenge of the Elf, the first book in his Nysta series. It's also a western, and I mean traditional western right down to the dialogue, but there aren't any guns and it's set in a world that is deliberately sword & sorcery, and I mean traditional sword & sorcery, except it all sounds like a western, and there is an interesting set-up of warring gods, bits of horror and funky monsters, things that resemble a Japanese martial arts film, and dark homage satire about westerns, sword & sorcery, horror and Japanese martial arts films. It's got a lot of violence and a lot of cursing, for those who like to know about such data, and an open ending which I thought was really good.

Other than that, I am woefully behind in the self-pub area, but hey, there are millions of them.
Click to expand...

The first Demon Squad novel was indeed published by Damnation, but no longer...it's currently self-published as Tim got his rights back to that novel. The 2nd and 3rd still are with Damnation, but I think Tim will try to get those back too. But for the sake of the discussion about "self-published" I wouldn't consider these three as such, though considering the support that publisher gave him, it might as well be considered a self-publish effort. The fourth and fifth novel though are self-published originals.

But that said, those novels don't fit with the recommendations the OP above is looking for, but for those that are looking for UF, this is a cool series.

Tim also self-published a fairly straight-forward action oriented revenge tale known as Witch Bane in a sword & sorcery vein.

Another UF author people could look into is B. Justin Shier with his Zero Sight books.
 
You know, I have a lot of sympathy for how tough it is, but as a consumer, even one that definitely reads indie books, I have trouble. I see a book with 4 reviews on Amazon, the blurb doesnt exactly scream "its definitely your thing" and its $3.99, and well, it just seems like too much uncertainty to pay for. I checked out 2 of the recommended books above, and both had only 4 reviews and were $3.99. The reviews were earnest, but bore no special earmarks of trust...for example, one earnest reviewer said they had trouble with the prologue "but, fortunately, it was all downhill from there" and meant it favorably.

I dunno, cant these authors give out free copies and ask for reviews? I heard Amazon wont let books start at free, Amazon decides that?

Just seems a little screwy to me...ought to be away to give away some copies and get some reviews to gain some traction.
 
It's not as easy as you'd think. Tons of reviewers won't review self-published books, or even those from small presses that haven't established themselves. On top of that, for every thirty review requests sent (in my experience) maybe a handful will respond with even less willing to review the book. Reviewers (and i'm generalizing, of course) are flooded by traditional publishers and have way more books to read than they can get to.

Also, such a small number of people who purchase books actually review them. I've sold in the neighborhood of a thousand of my latest Demon Squad book and yet I only have five reviews. It's not for a lack of trying. The same works for free books. Dawn of War, the first book in my Blood War Trilogy, has been free for a while now. I've given away easily 30,000+ and yet only have 26 reviews on Amazon and 32 on B&N.

As for pricing, self-pubbers are stuck in situation where they're forced to charge less than traditional publishers no matter the quality difference, if any, or consumers won't pick the book up. The middle ground, $3.99 to $5.99, are where there the more experienced, more salable selfies tend to sit. These prices shows value for the work while respecting the marketplace. However, with the glut of free and 99 cent books out there, the market has been devalued. Your own statement shows evidence of that.

At the end of the day, and this isn't a complaint but simply an observation, people are more likely to review and support books through traditional publishing or the larger small houses before they do the self-published ones. There's a network in place for those books, a tried and tested impact in distribution, that sets most small/self-pubbed folks behind the curve, which is only affected more by the glut of self-published crap that muddies the water for everyone.

ArtNJ said:
You know, I have a lot of sympathy for how tough it is, but as a consumer, even one that definitely reads indie books, I have trouble. I see a book with 4 reviews on Amazon, the blurb doesnt exactly scream "its definitely your thing" and its $3.99, and well, it just seems like too much uncertainty to pay for. I checked out 2 of the recommended books above, and both had only 4 reviews and were $3.99. The reviews were earnest, but bore no special earmarks of trust...for example, one earnest reviewer said they had trouble with the prologue "but, fortunately, it was all downhill from there" and meant it favorably.

I dunno, cant these authors give out free copies and ask for reviews? I heard Amazon wont let books start at free, Amazon decides that?

Just seems a little screwy to me...ought to be away to give away some copies and get some reviews to gain some traction.
Click to expand...
 
That makes sense Tim. I meant doing something like your doing with Dawn of War, making book 1 free and charging for 2 on. As a reader, I love that, and buy sequels around 30% of the time, depending on whether the series grabs me. Yeah, I know that isnt a great percentage for an author that wants to eat, but in some cases I have proceeded to other series by the same author, becoming a fan. So I do think it works and wonder why everyone doesnt do it.
 
That's obviously the idea. Authors want to build an audience of readers who follow us through our careers. As such, I'm following the lead of other authors who have set the first book up in a series as a loss leader in hopes of drawing sales to future books, but competition is stiff. There are so many books out there that it's hard to capitalize on a freebie first book unless you have the rest of the series already out. Even then, distraction weighs in and folks wander off to the next author, and the next one after that, and so on. Without word of mouth, which more often than not is reserved for the big label folks, it's hard to keep readers interested even if they like what you're doing.

Again, not complaining. I love what I do or I wouldn't do it, but there's simply no easy answer to publishing, no simple one way to do it all. Some folks will win the literary lottery and be set for life after a single book while others write their entire life and die poor. Publishing is a puzzle with no images displayed on its pieces. You don't know if you've got the right one until you try to make it fit.

ArtNJ said:
That makes sense Tim. I meant doing something like your doing with Dawn of War, making book 1 free and charging for 2 on. As a reader, I love that, and buy sequels around 30% of the time, depending on whether the series grabs me. Yeah, I know that isnt a great percentage for an author that wants to eat, but in some cases I have proceeded to other series by the same author, becoming a fan. So I do think it works and wonder why everyone doesnt do it.
Click to expand...
 
One thing that authors, self-pub or not, can work on is improving visibility through non-traditional channels and venues. If people see a book (not necessarily a review,) a few of them will buy and they may talk. This is why book cover art has not disappeared with e-books -- if people see the cover pictures somewhere, they may check out the book even if they've never heard of it before. Readers don't pay that much attention to who publishes a work, especially if it's an e-book. Get the name of the book in front of their eyeballs, and there's a tiny hit rate that could increase. Books are less visible these days, so anything that catches the eye may help. That's why we still have book trailers, even though as a promotional method, they've been iffy at best. It's another way to catch people's eyes though, so some authors try it. If you can team up with someone selling a non-book product for promotion, or several books together, you may get more attention than if you do it alone, more eyeballs that wouldn't normally be aimed your way. Not that it's a science, however, as you've discovered.
 
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