Why I’ll Always Support Indie Books

If you’ve been following my reviews, you’ll notice I haven’t reviewed any books from a mainstream press for Cultured Vultures. I have done reviews of mainstream books on other sites, but the vast majority of what I review have been independent releases.

While I do read mainstream books, I don’t write about them very often. A big part of this is just a practical reason. A good number of the books I review have been sent to me by authors and publishers, pretty much all of them independent. While I’m not opposed tor receiving or writing about mainstream books, for the most part those publishers are seeking reviews from much more well known critics. Books released from the Big Four get a lot of reviews from professional critics and from other bloggers. Most of what I have to say about those books has usually been said elsewhere.

I think the biggest reason is, at the risk of sounding like a big fat hipster, independent literature is just more interesting in general to me. When I look over the New York Times’ bestseller list, I see only one or two books that might interest me. I follow a number of small presses and authors on my social media, and I see multiple books that I want to read on a daily basis. That’s not even taking into account the books I have to read on my shelf and number the e-books I’ve picked up over time.

Mainstream publishers seem more risk averse than ever before. More than ever, they want guaranteed sellers, books from celebrities or authors who have proven sell. When they do take risks, it’s less to do with publishing unique fiction and more trying to make a splash with gimmicks. This time last year, Alfred A. Knopf published Garth Risk (yes, really) Hallberg’s debut novel City On Fire. Hallberg received a record breaking $2 million dollar advancement. It garnered a lot of attention, only for the book itself to be released to mixed reviews and mediocre sales. I recall seeing a lot of press on it when it first came out. I ended up forgetting it even existed until I saw it on sale at a bookstore a few days ago. I’ll confess I’ve not read the full book, but the bits of it I’ve read give me no reason to want to sit down and read its almost 1000 pages.

I want to contrast Hallberg’s novel with a book called Down Where the Devil Don’t Go, the 2014 debut book of author Paul Bingham. It’s a book with many things that disqualify it for a major publisher. It’s a short story collection from an unknown author, it’s a thin book (which works to its advantage), and it’s incredibly politically incorrect. One of the stories is called “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Hollywood,” to give you an idea of what I mean with the last point. It did find a home at Nine Banded Books, practically a one man operation that prides itself on releasing fiction and non-fiction that could never find a home elsewhere. It’s an masterful and powerful debut, the kind of book I pick up every once and while to read one of the stories. As much as I enjoy the book, however, I completely understand why no major publisher would have touched it. After all, how many people want to read a postmodern cowboy short story that satirizes contemporary country music?

There are many writers there with something truly fascinating to say, but they’ll never have a wide audience. This is why I focus mostly on independent literature. I connect more with most and, consequently, I have more to say in response to it. There’s a sort of thrill to it as well. Finding a good book that not many people know about is like being a little kid who just found something he thinks cool, he immediately wants to show it to everyone he knows. My reviews are my way of doing that and it has the added bonus of providing support to the writers as well.

While there’s likely still good, or at least interesting, books coming out of the Big Four, I’m still going to focus mostly on independent books. For me, they’re more fun to read and they’re more fun to write about. I’ll review mainstream books if they get sent to me, but the books I’m going to continue seeking out are the ones from independent writers and publishers.