self-publishing

When I started working on a novel in 2009, there was already a lot of buzz about self-publishing. Problem was, I didn't know anything about it and had a mainly negative view of it (without knowing anything... so what does that tell you? Yeah.)


So I went looking around the Internet for the best-of-the-best. The Top Gun pilots of self-published novels, if you will. I wondered who was doing it? What were they writing about? What were readers saying?


The 180 titles below are on this list because at least 10 other reviewers (because remember, I didn't know anything) said the book was great. And "great" meant usually a four- or five-star review, and it didn't sound too obvious that the reviewer had given birth to the author.


Once I took the advice of the world and added them to this list, I have been reading them. I can't figure out if I should tell you about them. (It's so much easier to continue operating under the assumption that I don't know anything...) But if you pick up a book off this list, please leave a comment.


One last thing: when you click the links below and buy a book, a little jingle of change hits my "poor writer" tin cup, compliments of Amazon's and Smashwords' "affiliate" programs. At no additional cost to you. So thanks, dear Reader. Really, thanks.


(Oh, and one other last thing: the date in parens will jump you to a blog post in which I blurb about why I added the book to the list).






Literary Fiction/Inspiration
After the Strawberry by Kathryn Pope (Mar 14)
Americanus Rex by Andre Swartley (Feb 21)
A Bomb Shelter Romance by Patrick M. Garry (Mar 14)
Chasing Bees by Renate M. Bell (May 9)
The Color of Heaven by Julianne MacLean (Apr 4)
Deed So by Kath Russell (Apr 11)
The Demise of the Soccer Moms by Cathryn Grant (Mar 28) 
Deserts and Mountains: A Novel by Yilmaz Alimoglu (Jan 10)
Dream Smashers by Angela Carlie (May 2)
First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice by Alexa Adams (Mar 7)
Four Years from Home by Larry Enright (Apr 4)
Homefront by Kristen J. Tsetsi (Mar 14)
House of Skin by Kiana Davenport (Mar 28)
Justice Seed by Logan Alberts (May 2)
The Life O'Reilly by Brian Cohen (Feb 14)
Lip Reader by Shanna Groves (Feb 28)
Love Like a Dog by Anne Calcagno (Jan 24)
Megan's Way by Melissa Foster (May 9)
Natural Selection by Fred Bubbers (Mar 21)
Right on Cue by Tom McGonagle (Feb 21)
Saints In The City by Andie Andrews (Mar 28)
Simon's Choice by Charlotte Castle (Apr 4)
Songs from the Other Side of the Wall by Dan Holloway (Mar 14)
The Victim Donor by Ken Corre (Feb 7)
Waiting for Spring by R.J. Keller (Mar 7)
A Wayward Wind by John W. Huffman (Jan 24)
When It's Too Late To Tell by J. Evan Johnson (May 9)
The Wishing Well by David Schibi (Mar 21)
The Year We Finally Solved Everything by Rudolf Kerkhoven (Mar 28)





Paranomal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
American Vampire by J.R. Rain (Apr 11)
Anathema: Cloud Prophet Trilogy: Book One by Megg Jensen (Apr 18)
Blood Lust by Zoe Winters (Mar 28)
Discovery at Rosehill by Kathryn Brown (Apr 4)
Heirs of Mars by Joseph Robert Lewis (Feb 7)
Impeding Justice by Mel Comley (Apr 11)
Fierce Dawn by Amber Scott (May 2)
Glimpse (Zellie Wells Book 1) by Stacey Wallace Benefiel (May 2)
Hush Money (Talent Chronicles) by Susan Bischoff (May 2)
Meant To Be by Tiffany King (May 2)
My Frankenstein by Michael J. Lee (Apr 18)
Oasis by Bryce Beattie (May 9)
An Ordinary Fairy by John Osborne (Feb 7)
The Pirate Bride by Ryan and Anna McKinley (May 9)
Powerless: The Shadowing by Jason Letts (Mar 28)
Probability Angels by Joseph Devon (Jan 17)
Rabbit: Chasing Beth Rider by Ellen C. Maze (Feb 21)
Sleight: Book One of the AVRA-K by Jennifer Sommersby (May 2)
Verdant Skies by Steven Lyle Jordan (Mar 28)
The Walk by Lee Goldberg (Feb 2)
We Don't Plummet Out of the Sky Anymore by M. David Blake (Mar 14)
The Yaakmen of Tyrie by Mark Paul Jacobs (May 2)



 

Women's Fiction/Romance
Adam's Temptation by Anne Marie Novark (Mar 21)
Alison Wonderland by Helen Smith (Mar 7)
Annie Begins by Michelle Toth (May 2)
Being Plumville by Savannah J. Frierson (Jan 24)
Belfast Girls by Gerry McCullough (Mar 7)
Claire's Not-So-Gothic Romance by Bonnie Blythe (May 9)
Dina's Lost Tribe: A Novel by Brigitte Goldstein (May 2)
The Dream Catcher Tour by Paula Buermele (Jan 17)
Eternal Eden by Nicole Williams (May 2)
For The Love of Art by Janet Goodfriend (May 2)
The Hambledown Dream by Dean Mayes (Apr 18)
Have You Seen Her? by Chicki Brown (May 2)
How I Learned to Love the Walrus by Beth Orsoff (Jan 17)
An Inconvenient Marriage by Ruth Ann Nordin (Mar 21)
Love of a Stonemason by Christa Polkinhorn (Feb 14)
Love Unscripted by Tina Reber (Feb 2)
The Naked Gardener by L.B. Gschwandtner (Apr 11)
One Night in Rome: And the End of Life as I Knew It by Michelle Merritt (Feb 14)
Play Fling by Amber Scott (Mar 14)
A Return to Innocence by Kathleen Beales (Feb 2)
Sand in My Eyes by Christine Lemmon (Mar 14)
Sea Changes by Gail Graham (Jan 17)
Second Date: Love Italian-American Style by Mary Lidon Simonsen (Mar 7)
Sing My Name by Ellen O'Connell (Feb 2)
Swallow by Tonya Plank (Jan 17)
Tennis Dates by Colette Friedman and Hillary Leigh Gross (Jan 10)
When The Getting Was Good by Susan G. Bell (Feb 21)
Without Grace by Carol Hoenig (Feb 7)
The Woman Upstairs by Mary W. Walters (May 9)





Humor/Satire
All The Ice of Africa by Silent Creek (Feb 7)
The Awful Truth About Dead Men by Terry Sykes-Bradshaw (Mar 28)
Cooler Heads by William Harlan Richter (Feb 28)
Crouton: A Love Story by T. Alex Miller (Mar 21)
Dial M For Monkey by Adam Maxwell (Mar 21)
Follow the Money by Ross Cavins (Jan 10)
Heaven Sake by Joe Verwiel (May 9)
Letters from Wheatfield by Patrick Shannon (Jan 17)
Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese (Jan 10)
The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude by Davis Aujourd'hui (Jan 10)
No Hope For Gomez! by Graham Parke (Feb 28)
Octopus Summer by W. Malcolm Dorson (Feb 28)
One Clown Short by Linda C. Wright (Feb 21)
Or So It Seems by Paul Steven Stone (Jan 24)
Raw: A Novel by Steven Revare (Feb 2)
Son of a Dog by Jacqueline Howard (Mar 7)
Stuck in the Box: A Life in Local TV News by Donna McNeely (Feb 2)
Sweet Nessie by Bruce Sartre (Mar 21)
Tales From My Hard Drive by Megan Karasch (Feb 28)
The Wrinkly by Paul Collis (Mar 21)





Historical
Across The Sea by Eric Marier (May 2)
Crestmont by Holly Weiss (Apr 11)
Daughter of Time by Sarah Woodbury (Apr 4)
The Flower Man's Daughter by Jack Sobel (Mar 14)
For The Love of Paris by Thomas Rutter (Mar 14)
The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick (Apr 11)
Four Gifts for Aria by Joshua Graham (Mar 21)
The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch (translated from the German by Lee Chadeayne) (Feb 14)
In Theda Bara's Tent by Diana Altman (May 2)
The Last Jump: A Novel of World War II by John Nevola (Feb 21)
The Losing Role by Steve Anderson (Feb 21)
Maccabee by David C. Carson (Feb 28)
The Margin by Marvin Wiebener (Jan 24)
The Missouri Riders by George Banks (Feb 28)
A More Obedient Wife by Natalie Wexler (Feb 14)
Music for the Sun King: Murder and Mystery at Versailles by Lindy Vinke (May 2)
Old Town by Lin Zhe (translated from the Chinese by George A. Fowler) (Feb 14)
The Parting: A Story of West Point on the Eve of the Civil War by Richard Barlow Adams (Feb 14)
Sand Dollar: A Tale of Old Key West by Jane Louise Newhagen (Feb 14)
A Second Chance by Shayne Parkinson (Mar 21)
The Shopkeeper by James D. Best (Jan 10)
The Skye in June by June Ahern (Feb 21)
Voices Under Berlin: The Tale of A Monterey Mary by T.H.E. Hill (Jan 10)
The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden (Feb 7)




Mystery/Crime/Thriller/Horror
An Apple for Zoe by Thomas Amo (Apr 11)
And Then She Was Gone by J. Daniel Sawyer (Jan 17)
The Baron of Clayhill by John W. Huffman (Mar 7)
Bella by Steve Piacente (Jan 24)
Blank Slate by Zack Hamric (Feb 14)
Blood and Ashes: The Debut Oscar Jade Thriller by Mark Loeffelholz (Mar 7)
Bloodlines by Dasaya Cates (Feb 7)
By A Thread by Marty Beaudet (Apr 18)
Caraliza by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick (Apr 18)
Cold Eyes by Romina Wilcox (May 9)
The Deadline by Ron Franscell (Apr 18)
Denial of Sunlight by Robert Troy (Feb 14)
Drummer Boy by Scott Nicholson (Feb 28)
The Elect by James Gilbert (Feb 2)
The End of Marking Time by C.J. Miller (Apr 4)
Folly by Bill Noel (Feb 7)
The Ghost of a Flea by John Brinling (Mar 28)
Heart of Diamonds by Dave Donelson (Mar 7)
Heaven's Rage by Tiffany Craig Brown (Feb 21)
The Hiding Place of Thunder by Keith Remer (Feb 21)
Hit List by Darcia Helle (Mar 7)
In Memory of Greed by Al Boudreau (Apr 4)
The Innocent by Vincent Zandri (Apr 4)
Inside The Mirrors by Jason Davis (May 2)
Justice Rules by Thomas White (Feb 28)
Lantern's Passage by Andrew L. Macnair (Feb 2)
Leave Me Gasping by T.C. Beacham (Jan 17)
'Life's A Bitch. So Am I' by R.E. Conary (Jan 24)
Madness and Murder by Jenny Hilborne (Apr 18)
The Mine by Daniel R. Cobb (Feb 2)
The Misplaced Horse by Constance Downes (Jan 10)
My Sister's Keeper by Bill Benners (Apr 11)
Not What She Seems by Victoria E. Lieske (Apr 11)
On The Gathering Storm by Jason McIntyre (Apr 4)
Pay Phone by Brandon Ford (Mar 28)
Precession by Abigail Arrington (May 9)
The Purple Culture by Stephen Boehrer (Mar 14)
Recovery (Nicci Beauvoir series) by Alexandra Weis (May 2)
Remix by Lexi Revellian (Jan 17)
The Righteous by Michael Wallace (Apr 4)
River Bones by Mary Deal (Jan 10)
The Samson Effect by Tony Eldridge (Feb 2)
Silent Partner by Karen Jones (Feb 28)
Silver Shoes by Paul Miles Schneider (Feb 7)
Silver Thaw by Amy Rose Davis (Apr 18)
A Small Fortune by Audrey Braun (Jan 24)
The Soulkeepers by G.P. Ching (May 2)
The Storm Killer by Mike Jastrzebski (Jan 24)
Thirty Pieces of Silver by Carolyn McCray (Apr 11)
Through the Triangle by C.P. Stewart (Jan 24)
Trojan Horse by David Lenders (May 2)
Under the Wolf Moon: A Novel by Barbara Townsend (Jan 10)
The Usurper by Cliff Ball (Apr 18)
Whole World Blind by Michael B. Mefford (Feb 7)
Wing Walking by Harry Groome (Jan 17)




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