Every month, I’m thinking that science fiction readers are going to have to look at these books more closely, because mainstream traditional publishers are almost at the point of abandoning SF entirely. Each month I get the new emails announcing forthcoming titles from major SF imprints, and every month, I am seeing less and less SF included. Most months, there is none. Tor is still okay with SF, but they’re not offering as many SF debuts as they are fantasy. Orbit is fairly solid, but they are following the pattern you discussed of only releasing SF if it is safe, easily marketable to the Expanse fans they cultivated. Smaller imprints like Solaris and Angry Robot are taking a bit more of an SF risk. But mostly, SF is dead in traditional publishing. I don’t even recognize Del Rey anymore. They’ve gone pretty much full romantasy and seem to see themselves in competition mainly with Red Tower. Ace is all about “cozy” fantasy now, with maybe a new Jack Campbell book every now and then to check off their token SF quota. Both of these used to be the top SF imprints in the world, publishing dozens of titles each year. Who is out there now to cultivate the next Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Egan, Iain M. Banks, William Gibson, Vernor Vinge, Octavia Butler? More and more I’m thinking those new writers are not going to come from traditional paths. We will probably find them self publishing.
This is a great way to intro to new book so glad you made this vid I will make sure to check a few out and education on self-pub book thanks the more more to check out👍
Hey Dave, just to let you know, I have put this book on my TBR solely based on this reviewer's recommendation. I love the idea of supporting new authors and of finding these hidden gems. I can't wait to check it out. Congratulations on it's success
I really loved this video! That part where you said that usually, publishers go to the easy sell is so true. And this ok, for sure, but there are some many possibilities of new stories , with new ways of telling that story that are been missed, just because they 'might' not sell. Really like your sci fi self publisher recomendations. Maybe, in the future, you could bring us a list of biology sci fi books :) I am reading Sword of Kaigen, and really enjoying
I would love to do a biology list when i find enough examples! And thank you for watching- its hard to talk about self published in a way people are open to- there are some great ones out there
Shout out to my friend's book, A Slice of Mars by Guerric Hache, which made the second round of the competition. A very cool slice of life set on a colonized Mars exploring different political systems, cultural dynamics, and future pizza technology.
Wow - one of the best videos in a long time. I have Kindle Unlimited and sometimes you find a real gem so good you wonder why they are free. Then again, the majority have caricatures vs characters, show lots of scientific ignorance, no research and the literary element is patheti - sentence of hundreds of words or one or two words. "Next" "Eyeing the suspect" "Up" Bad spelling, punctuation, vocabulary (lay/lie, hoard/horde, firther/farther, effect/affect, "learnt", etc) Or no editing. "Ray knew that hitting stabbing could get him in troublejail." New video suggestions: Best that should have a different ending, books that need a sequel, books written under the influence, worst sci-fi for 2024, etc. Later
I'm in the early stages of self publishing my first novel and I have set myself a new goal to read at least one self published book a month in solidarity with my fellow self published authors, I want them to be ones that are not all over TikTok or the big Book Tubers, where a sale and a review can make a difference, so your list (not just of books but authors) is very timely.
Some good recommendations Whitney, especially Our Lady of The Artilects, which sounds particularly interesting to me as someone who also is fascinated by the intersection of science and religion, and also how religion and spirituality will survive into the future. Thanks for this!
Ooo, I picked up a paperback copy of “Prompt Excursion” based upon Sound & Fury Book Reviews’ words during SPSFC3. I’ve been meaning to get to it, but how often have we all said that! 😄 I did also haul “Kenai” because xeno-archaeology is one of my absolute top-tier SciFi sub-genres that I get super excited about. Can totally appreciate how time intensive it is. I’ve tried to read the SPFBO and SPSFC finalists each year and just fail every time. Never mind the levels you have to go to 😱
Ooh i hope u enjoy them!! I know how hard it can be to read the finalists but …. I would recommend the audiobooks when u can-- thrill switch was great 👍🏻
😂 I played a game with semi-finalist picture: "what book would I read based upon cover and maybe titel" So I went with 3 [maybe 4] 🤤 and than you revealed finalists and all 4 were there 🙀✨️ I don't know how I did it! 😯 I didn't get the winner but wow I was so close I didn't read a singöe word. Who knew cover-picking would also get me great books 🤷♀️
I wish you could focus a little more on that gray area between the traditional big publishers and self-published. I'm talking about small press publishers. Like a big one, but with far less advertising budget. They are much more willing to take a risk on a new author. Like me. My series, Rise of the Automated Empire, is published by Chris Kennedy Publications under their Theogeny imprint. I would never call myself self-published like this, but I don't have the advertising budget of one of the really big houses.
I'm a self-published author in a different genre (crime) and recently found a small independent publisher for my last three books. However, I'm about halfway through an SF novel, a genre that I started writing in nigh on 50 years ago (gulp). This I intend to self-publish because my take is that publishers may not be interested in the social-critique sub-genre that I'm writing in, something like Thomas M. Disch's 334. So I'm going to skirt the rejection and go straight for anonymity ... 😂 As a side-note, I'm a member of several FB SF groups many of whose members want to write SF... but their knowledge of the genre seems sadly lacking. It seems to me they 'want to write' and think SF is an easy genre to start in. Wrong! But obviously I'm an old fart and shouldn't be too critical: everyone's got to start somewhere.
Wow- very informative and helpful episode. I guess I’ve read quite a bit of self-published sci-fi without really being aware of it. Some has been great (QNTM’s stuff) while some has been awful. For example a Mars landing mission where they run out of oxygen on their first surface walk after 30 minutes because they forgot to check their supplies. 😂 Thanks for the help in finding the good stuff!
Undying Mercs is a great series. Not sure in Glynn Stewart is self published (but I think so) definitely check out his Starship Mage series. His other series are pretty top notch as well. Christopher G Nuttall (met him this summer at World Con in Glasgow) and Terry Mancour are also on my reading list.
I tried Dreamer (Dalton Y Hailstrom) DNF. Escaping First Contact (T.S. Beier) is up next. That competition you were a part of sounded fascinating. 237 is far too many.150 is a more realistic number IMHO. i'LL check out KENAI and Dark Law #1 Dark Theory (Wick Welker) even though it sounds like our Man's "Service Model". Great channel.
Yeah 237 is too many… but it was a very educational experience! Dark theory does have some similarities to service model… wick welker does have other books if u want to try different options. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this video and giving The Automaton some love!! Don't forget how important reviews are for self-pub authors. If you read a self-pub book and loved it, make sure you leave a review wherever you can! We really appreciate it 😊
James McGill from Undying Mercenaries !!!! series is my favorite scifi character. I always was looking for books that are interesting to me not who published them. Few self published military sci fi that I love: Blood on the Stars series by Jay Allan Poor Man's Fight series by Elliott Kay The Spiral Wars series by Joel Shepherd The Ember War Saga series by Richard Fox Hayden War Cycle series by Evan Currie Angel in the Whirlwind series by Christopher G. Nuttall Ruins of the Earth series by Christopher Hopper, J. N. Chaney
Really great vid!👍👍👍🤖🚀🐲 Sorry to hear that you won't continue as a judge. That said, the finalists are all being added to my tbr📚 except dark theory, which is already on it, thanks to rachel at theshadesoforange! When it comes to the other recommendations, I'll be back!
Will finish watching later, but I just had to say, yikes, why would anyone submit writing to a contest (or anywhere!) when it has spelling / formatting errors? That's basic high school standards. I cringe when I make errors typing online. That's why "self published" automatically causes a negative reaction. We expect it to be bad. That's not fair to everyone. But that's why it's important to have high standards and a system for quality control, especially for the basics. You can have an intriguing story idea, but if you hand me a book full of spelling, punctuation, and formatting errors, I'm not going to get past the first page. Poor quality demonstrates to me that the writer has no respect for themselves, their work, or their audience. They have wasted their time. They are not going to waste mine.
There are no traditional publishers that do the real work they used to. They relay on previous track record or big name. They don’t make the effort to read, edit or guide prospective authors. It all roughly started with 50 Shades when a self published e- novel got snatched up. From then that’s where they trawl for ready made sales. They also just accept digital manuscripts from their ‘named’ publishers without checking them an it is noticeable that the quantity of mistakes has risen even in well established publishers. It’s time for the big publishing houses to shut up shop.
I have to agree. New authors in legacy publishing, rare as can be, must do everything themselves anyway short of paying the publisher. You are expected to provide clean copy so they don't need to edit. The big 5 take your money and do little for it unless you are Steven King. I see a lot of errors in recent legacy books.
Every month, I’m thinking that science fiction readers are going to have to look at these books more closely, because mainstream traditional publishers are almost at the point of abandoning SF entirely. Each month I get the new emails announcing forthcoming titles from major SF imprints, and every month, I am seeing less and less SF included. Most months, there is none.
Tor is still okay with SF, but they’re not offering as many SF debuts as they are fantasy. Orbit is fairly solid, but they are following the pattern you discussed of only releasing SF if it is safe, easily marketable to the Expanse fans they cultivated. Smaller imprints like Solaris and Angry Robot are taking a bit more of an SF risk.
But mostly, SF is dead in traditional publishing. I don’t even recognize Del Rey anymore. They’ve gone pretty much full romantasy and seem to see themselves in competition mainly with Red Tower. Ace is all about “cozy” fantasy now, with maybe a new Jack Campbell book every now and then to check off their token SF quota. Both of these used to be the top SF imprints in the world, publishing dozens of titles each year.
Who is out there now to cultivate the next Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Egan, Iain M. Banks, William Gibson, Vernor Vinge, Octavia Butler? More and more I’m thinking those new writers are not going to come from traditional paths. We will probably find them self publishing.
Very thoughtful response!
What about Baen? They still publish a lot of SF and it's not like the typical other SF that's being published these days.
Just started the video but had to pause to say I loved that intro!
Yay! Thank you!🙏
This is a great way to intro to new book so glad you made this vid I will make sure to check a few out and education on self-pub book thanks the more more to check out👍
Glad it was helpful!!!
Wow!!!! A book list I would have never heard of. Thank you. I can't wait to check some of these out. Great Video Whitney
Thanks dale
Thanks so much for your work judging SPSFC3. These are some great recommendations! Thanks for mentioning Kenai and the other great competitors.
You are so welcome! 🙏 congrats!!! 🎉🎈
Hey Dave, just to let you know, I have put this book on my TBR solely based on this reviewer's recommendation. I love the idea of supporting new authors and of finding these hidden gems. I can't wait to check it out. Congratulations on it's success
@@dalejones4322 thanks so much! I really hope you enjoy it.
I really appreciate you making videos like this. I already had a handful of these in my TBR pile, and happily found a few more I'm interested in.
So glad i could help
I really loved this video! That part where you said that usually, publishers go to the easy sell is so true. And this ok, for sure, but there are some many possibilities of new stories , with new ways of telling that story that are been missed, just because they 'might' not sell. Really like your sci fi self publisher recomendations. Maybe, in the future, you could bring us a list of biology sci fi books :) I am reading Sword of Kaigen, and really enjoying
I would love to do a biology list when i find enough examples! And thank you for watching- its hard to talk about self published in a way people are open to- there are some great ones out there
Great idea for a video! I'd love to make something similar but for military sci-fi.
There are some great self pub military scifi books!!
Shout out to my friend's book, A Slice of Mars by Guerric Hache, which made the second round of the competition. A very cool slice of life set on a colonized Mars exploring different political systems, cultural dynamics, and future pizza technology.
🔥 thanks for mentioning it!!!
I just bought Kenai after watching this. It sounds great. Aliens and archaeology is my bag.
Hope u enjoy it!!
Just got Undying Mercenaries 1-4 for my kindle. sounds cool. Cool experience with the comp!
🔥 yeah 👍🏻
Excellent topic. Thank you for this .
🔥
Wow - one of the best videos in a long time. I have Kindle Unlimited and sometimes you find a real gem so good you wonder why they are free. Then again, the majority have caricatures vs characters, show lots of scientific ignorance, no research and the literary element is patheti - sentence of hundreds of words or one or two words. "Next" "Eyeing the suspect" "Up" Bad spelling, punctuation, vocabulary (lay/lie, hoard/horde, firther/farther, effect/affect, "learnt", etc) Or no editing. "Ray knew that hitting stabbing could get him in troublejail."
New video suggestions: Best that should have a different ending, books that need a sequel, books written under the influence, worst sci-fi for 2024, etc. Later
Haha 🤣 so glad u had good time with this one!! Will have some end of year content on worst books this year! Thanks for watching
I entered the SPSFC this year, thanks for the breakdown of the process 🎉
You're so welcome! Hope u enter next year too!! 🍀
I'm in the early stages of self publishing my first novel and I have set myself a new goal to read at least one self published book a month in solidarity with my fellow self published authors, I want them to be ones that are not all over TikTok or the big Book Tubers, where a sale and a review can make a difference, so your list (not just of books but authors) is very timely.
Good i hope you find some good ones!
the undying mercenaries - not mechanics... LOL - they are super fun and quick reads.
Yeah - thanks for correction
I want to read all these. I read Kensi last month and it was a great time paradox story.
🔥
Some good recommendations Whitney, especially Our Lady of The Artilects, which sounds particularly interesting to me as someone who also is fascinated by the intersection of science and religion, and also how religion and spirituality will survive into the future. Thanks for this!
Thanks for watching!
Ooo, I picked up a paperback copy of “Prompt Excursion” based upon Sound & Fury Book Reviews’ words during SPSFC3. I’ve been meaning to get to it, but how often have we all said that! 😄
I did also haul “Kenai” because xeno-archaeology is one of my absolute top-tier SciFi sub-genres that I get super excited about.
Can totally appreciate how time intensive it is. I’ve tried to read the SPFBO and SPSFC finalists each year and just fail every time. Never mind the levels you have to go to 😱
Hey, can you recommend some sci fi books of the sub-genres of xeno-biology that has a easy language ? English isn't my first language
Ooh i hope u enjoy them!! I know how hard it can be to read the finalists but …. I would recommend the audiobooks when u can-- thrill switch was great 👍🏻
😂 I played a game with semi-finalist picture: "what book would I read based upon cover and maybe titel" So I went with 3 [maybe 4] 🤤 and than you revealed finalists and all 4 were there 🙀✨️
I don't know how I did it! 😯
I didn't get the winner but wow I was so close I didn't read a singöe word.
Who knew cover-picking would also get me great books 🤷♀️
Hahah 😝
I wish you could focus a little more on that gray area between the traditional big publishers and self-published. I'm talking about small press publishers. Like a big one, but with far less advertising budget. They are much more willing to take a risk on a new author. Like me. My series, Rise of the Automated Empire, is published by Chris Kennedy Publications under their Theogeny imprint. I would never call myself self-published like this, but I don't have the advertising budget of one of the really big houses.
One step at a time :)
@@secretsauceofstorycraft That sounds very hopeful. I volunteer to be your trial run. I'll even send you a copy of my first book, if you like. 🙂
I'm a self-published author in a different genre (crime) and recently found a small independent publisher for my last three books. However, I'm about halfway through an SF novel, a genre that I started writing in nigh on 50 years ago (gulp). This I intend to self-publish because my take is that publishers may not be interested in the social-critique sub-genre that I'm writing in, something like Thomas M. Disch's 334. So I'm going to skirt the rejection and go straight for anonymity ... 😂 As a side-note, I'm a member of several FB SF groups many of whose members want to write SF... but their knowledge of the genre seems sadly lacking. It seems to me they 'want to write' and think SF is an easy genre to start in. Wrong! But obviously I'm an old fart and shouldn't be too critical: everyone's got to start somewhere.
Wishing u best! It is good to have knowledge of the genre you are writing in but it is a lifetime to read all em all!!
Wow- very informative and helpful episode. I guess I’ve read quite a bit of self-published sci-fi without really being aware of it. Some has been great (QNTM’s stuff) while some has been awful. For example a Mars landing mission where they run out of oxygen on their first surface walk after 30 minutes because they forgot to check their supplies. 😂
Thanks for the help in finding the good stuff!
Thanks for watching- i relate to reading self pub without knowing it! Thats is good
Glad you enjoyed Children of the Black. Thank you for all the work you put in judging the SPSFC3.
Hello!! Thanks for checking out my channel and for letting us judges get to read your book!
@@secretsauceofstorycraft Not a problem.
I can't wait to check out this book.
@@dalejones4322 I hope you like it.
Undying Mercs is a great series. Not sure in Glynn Stewart is self published (but I think so) definitely check out his Starship Mage series. His other series are pretty top notch as well. Christopher G Nuttall (met him this summer at World Con in Glasgow) and Terry Mancour are also on my reading list.
🔥 🔥
I tried Dreamer (Dalton Y Hailstrom) DNF.
Escaping First Contact (T.S. Beier) is up next.
That competition you were a part of sounded fascinating. 237 is far too many.150 is a more realistic number IMHO.
i'LL check out KENAI and Dark Law #1 Dark Theory (Wick Welker) even though it sounds like our Man's "Service Model".
Great channel.
Yeah 237 is too many… but it was a very educational experience! Dark theory does have some similarities to service model… wick welker does have other books if u want to try different options.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this video and giving The Automaton some love!! Don't forget how important reviews are for self-pub authors. If you read a self-pub book and loved it, make sure you leave a review wherever you can! We really appreciate it 😊
🔥 will do! And thanks for watching! Looking forward to your next book! Ps- get an audiobook version already!?
Children of the Black is tempting. 17-18 hour read in kobo time. If only ebooks had a slider to adjust the level of description.
Haha yessssss !!!
James McGill from Undying Mercenaries !!!! series is my favorite scifi character.
I always was looking for books that are interesting to me not who published them.
Few self published military sci fi that I love:
Blood on the Stars series by Jay Allan
Poor Man's Fight series by Elliott Kay
The Spiral Wars series by Joel Shepherd
The Ember War Saga series by Richard Fox
Hayden War Cycle series by Evan Currie
Angel in the Whirlwind series by Christopher G. Nuttall
Ruins of the Earth series by Christopher Hopper, J. N. Chaney
Thesr r great reccs!!!
Saul Goodman’s in this series. Well I’m in!
Recommend The Dark Republic series by D L Young.
Thank you!!! 😊
Really great vid!👍👍👍🤖🚀🐲 Sorry to hear that you won't continue as a judge. That said, the finalists are all being added to my tbr📚 except dark theory, which is already on it, thanks to rachel at theshadesoforange! When it comes to the other recommendations, I'll be back!
Thanks for watching and i hope u find some good ones….
3:37 - _Undying Mechanics_ or _Undying Mercenaries_ ? Or did this incredibly prolific author write both? I mean, 70+ books!
Mercenaries… 🤪
Will finish watching later, but I just had to say, yikes, why would anyone submit writing to a contest (or anywhere!) when it has spelling / formatting errors? That's basic high school standards. I cringe when I make errors typing online. That's why "self published" automatically causes a negative reaction. We expect it to be bad. That's not fair to everyone. But that's why it's important to have high standards and a system for quality control, especially for the basics. You can have an intriguing story idea, but if you hand me a book full of spelling, punctuation, and formatting errors, I'm not going to get past the first page. Poor quality demonstrates to me that the writer has no respect for themselves, their work, or their audience. They have wasted their time. They are not going to waste mine.
Hard to answer this one. 🤷🏼♀️
There are no traditional publishers that do the real work they used to. They relay on previous track record or big name. They don’t make the effort to read, edit or guide prospective authors. It all roughly started with 50 Shades when a self published e- novel got snatched up. From then that’s where they trawl for ready made sales. They also just accept digital manuscripts from their ‘named’ publishers without checking them an it is noticeable that the quantity of mistakes has risen even in well established publishers. It’s time for the big publishing houses to shut up shop.
There is still a place for traditional published works i think- but self pub is becoming the future more and more
I have to agree. New authors in legacy publishing, rare as can be, must do everything themselves anyway short of paying the publisher. You are expected to provide clean copy so they don't need to edit. The big 5 take your money and do little for it unless you are Steven King. I see a lot of errors in recent legacy books.