So last week I went to Amazon to see what the fuss is all about with self publishing and perhaps find a few gems that are being self published. To my amazement, right off the bat I found one such author, Jason Tesar.
Jason is the author of "The Awakened", a science fiction/fantasy book series that takes you into the past where myths and legends are brought to life. I just finished reading the first book in the series and I have to say that it is one of the few fantasy books I can say I truly liked and enjoyed reading. I think a lot of it has to do with the well developed characters that you get to know and like along the way and that this book is not a simple one. This book is a lot deeper then you might expect, it has a political side, a mythical side, a military side!
Something that drew me to the book was not the fact that it was free on amazon at the time but its reviews. The reviews of a book can sometimes make it or break it. I don't know how it affects self published authors when someone from amazon can submit whatever they like, even if they didn't truly read the book, I have to expect it would cause a negative affect. I read that some people did not like the authors writing style, I however enjoyed it. A few of the reviews down trotted the book because it was self published and that's not right. The fact that someone self published a book does not mean its a bad book, hard to read, or not edited. I found that the first book of the awakened was well written and edited. Not all of the reviews are negative. Out of 190 reviews, over 140 of them are 4 and 5 stars.
I think I learned a lot from Jason's book. Being a aspiring author I wanted to see what was out there for me, what future I might be facing when I finally finish my book. I believe that this series could have been published with a major publisher but for reasons unknown to me (as of right now) Jason chose to self publish this series and if I have to go down that road and have to choose to do the same, it doesn't look so bad.
Jason has another book series coming out soon entitled "Wandering Stars" This is how he describes this new series.
"Deep in the recesses of the human soul, echoes and shadows survive—remnants of a time long-forgotten. Refusing to die, they strive for existence, taking the form of myths and legends which continue to shape human history across the boundaries of time and culture.
This is their story—where it all began"
Personally I am looking forward to this series and will review it once I get my hands on a copy. For anyone looking for a copy of "The Awakened" you can follow this link. As of right now the first book is free so all of you science fiction/fantasy fans out there need to go and get yourself a digital copy while you can. I'm sure you will enjoy the story and will want to buy the rest of the series. I'm hoping to interview Jason soon and add his views to a series of blogs I am planning that covers the pro's vs cons of self publishing.
