has there ever in the history of mankind been a self-published book that was good?
yeah a few
>>25253163A significant amount of modernist literature was self-published. Surrealist poetry booklets were self-published then given to their friends to discuss at cafés. Proust as this anon >>25253195 pointed out is one of the best examples. Avant-garde writers had to start their own “press” to just get their work out there since the more “conservative” publishing industry at the time refused to entertain their work. More contemporary self-published work worth reading is Evan Dara’s oeuvre
>has there ever in the history of mankind been a digital/print-on-demand self-published book that was good?ftfy
Obvs not. The whole nature of a self published book rests on the author's inability to get a real publisher to take it.
>>25253163Leaves of Grass
>>25253750>real publisher to take it."real publishers" only take femslop trash in 2026
Man i knew this schizo guy named crazy brady who self published his own fantasy anthology that eventually made it to barnes and nobke for a minute. Wish i remembered more.
Yeah, there have been plenty. Some traditionally-published (not that it means anything anymore) authors self-pub on occasion.
>>25253163Most stuff by Melville and Whitman were self-published. As >>25253233 said, self-publishing has always been thing. The difference now and then is that those books are now widely available, as opposed to few copies floating around. It doesn't help that jeets are now flooding the market with AIslop.
>>25253233>More contemporary self-published work worth reading is Evan Dara’s oeuvreThe Lost Scrapbook isn't self-published, but yeah, this is a good answer. Crazy that he's got so few readers but I guess that's the price you pay for complete anonymity
>>25254136The Lost Scrapbook is self-published. It only won a literary award that Vollman was sitting on. It never got picked up. It’s under Dara’s press that only publishes his novels
