Great self published literature

I’m going to try not to sound too pretentious about this…

For at least ten years now, I’ve been hearing about the potential of self-publishing, and how it would allow great literature to be published that would be too weird for traditional publishing, or even small presses. I love small presses and weird, but great books, and I just haven’t seen it in self-publishing… Not by a long shot. But I have been reading John Swartzwelder’s very good books, and he says he just didn’t want to fiddle with a publisher.

So, I’m going to start looking for it. I’m open to any genre – fiction, poetry, essay, hybrid work, whatever. My favorite writers at the moment are probably Paul Beatty, Percival Everett, George Saunders, and Kelly Link. I love Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca West, Toni Morrison, Javier Marias, Robert Caro, Mary Ruefle… My point here is just that I’m open to whatever, but if it leans too far into “genre fiction,” it might not resonate with me all that well. But open to anything!

by Colleen_Hoover