Self-publishing is negatively affecting the book industry, despite authors’ lack of ill intent. Self-publishing is a great resource that writers can use to publish a book on their own instead of pursuing the highly competitive, traditional route of getting a book deal with a publishing house. Since there is typically no marketing campaign for them or help get their work into bookstores and libraries, self-published books generally do not reach as large an audience as traditionally published books. Thus, self-published books will not become popular enough to pose a threat to the book industry. However, since more writers are publishing their own books, the book industry has become overly saturated with writers and novels. 

The self-publishing market has grown dramatically in recent years. There were 2.3 million self-published books in 2021, roughly two to three times the estimated 500,000 to 1 million new books published through traditional publishers. The rise in self-publishing is staggering and indicates that self-publishing has become more attractive for writers. Proponents of self-publishing argue that it is more accessible and affordable than publishing through a traditional publisher. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that it is oversaturating the book market, making it harder for new titles to succeed and pushing the burden of advertising onto authors. As the amount of novels increases, the success rate of the individual novel decreases. However, the amount of novels published should increase the number of readers — there should be something for everyone if over 3 million novels were published in one year. So, does the fate of the publishing industry matter if readers are getting what they want? Well, yes. Since there are so many novels, individual authors will likely be receiving less money, as there are millions of other authors. Writing will inevitably become a part-time job rather than a full-time job, with authors less able to independently live off of their salary. This rise in the industry will no doubt be followed by a crash. 

In addition to the book industry transforming due to the sharp increase in the number of books on the market, self-publishing has greatly shifted the types of novels that are published and become popular. This can be credited to TikTok — or BookTok. Rather than being dominated by authors and publishers, BookTok is driven by ordinary readers. BookTok is a great resource for readers to easily find books they would enjoy. For authors, it’s a great resource to promote their novels and gain popularity — self-published or not. The hashtag provides plenty of recommendations from millions of readers across the globe. BookTok also gives writers the opportunity to find readers who are interested in their novels and guarantees the authors some sales. 

Although I have claimed that self-publishing is not notable for making the author greatly successful, there is one glaring outlier: Colleen Hoover. Hoover, best known for her 2016 novel “It Ends With Us,” is a romance novelist who has recently risen to prominence because of her extreme popularity — in 2022 she sold 8.6 million print books, more copies than the Bible sold that year. In 2020, after making five of her ebooks free, sales for her novels began picking up, as readers then bought the rest of her novels. Thus, her novels became a booming success, even more so when they were being posted all over social media. BookTok helped authors sell 20 million print books in 2021, and Hoover became a bestselling author necause her books went viral on TikTok. She got her start through self-publishing and continues to self-publish, as well as releasing books with three different publishers.

I’ve read a few of Colleen Hoover’s books and find that there is much to critique, but I think the fact that she typically publishes two books a year demonstrates that her writing is perhaps rushed (generally, authors tend to put out one book every other year). Hoover is one of the main reasons why the book industry has blown up in the past few years, but she is also met with lots of hate and criticism due to controversies regarding domestic violence in her novels. Hoover’s novels are very easy to read, and I would consider them to be the reading level of a middle schooler, with content more appropriate for college students. In recent years, romance novels have been on the rise, both in popularity and presence. Some may even claim that her novels have lowered the bar for “good writing,” changing the book industry altogether — I have heard from multiple people that Hoover’s success has made them more confident in their ability to become successful writers as well. Is it because of self-published authors like Hoover that the quality of writing published is decreasing?

I would answer yes, as there are no, or at least few, “rules” regarding self-publishing. In traditional publishing, novels go through rounds of edits, whereas self-published authors can put out content that has previously only been exposed to their own eyes. Hoover is an outlier, and self-publishing is not an easy way to become successful. Through traditional publishing, a writer is presented with a larger audience as the books are marketed and put into bookstores and libraries. 

Nevertheless, the book industry has changed dramatically in the past few years due to the rise of self-published titles, changing the game of publishing for better and worse. Self-publishing is a great resource for writers who want to get their novels out into the world, but it has overall had a negative impact on the now oversaturated book industry.

Sophie Maselli, FCRH ’26, is an English major from Milford, Conn.