You may have (possibly, maybe?) noticed that the indie book read-a-thon I’ve been talking about for the last few weeks has disappeared from my sidebar. If you’re wondering why, let me tell you: I had to cancel it due to an incredible lack of interest. I have hosted several other events and reading challenges over the years and have participated in countless others and they’ve all had varying levels of success. None get ignored quite to the same extent as those focusing on independently published books.
Before I blogged I read a lot more indie books than I do now. I didn’t know what was hyped or being pushed by publishers. I looked at books on shelves or Goodreads and picked whatever was interesting. These days I have to go out of my way to read indie books, I’ll admit. It can be difficult to put aside whatever the next big thing is to read something from a self-published author. But years in the community has introduced me to some amazing indie authors, so I do attempt to read outside the Big Five whenever I have the time or I find something that looks especially amazing.
This year I decided to attempt an indie reading challenge (with a slight facelift from my first attempt). This was to be a ten day reading challenge, again to promote indie authors. I, along with some participating blogs and authors, shared about the challenge on social media and on our blogs. It didn’t take long to realize that, despite getting views, no one was signing up. After over a week and double the views of other recent posts, one person had signed up besides those who were participating in the event by posting reviews and hosting giveaways.
Please don’t take this post as me whining that no one wanted to participate in my challenge. I have hosted several other challenges with varying levels of participation and have enjoyed all of them! But this failed challenge makes me wonder – why don’t many people, especially in the blogosphere, read indie books?
I’m curious to hear from everyone. Do you read indie books? Why or why not? I’ll admit I am a major cover judger so I tend to only pick up the ones with prettier covers and more reviews. I’ve definitely had some misses, but I’ve found some favorite books by reading outside of the Big Five!
