How does one find their next read?
If you’re anything like me, you likely place the fate of your TBR on the hands of an algorithm. I often hear about a book from a friend, download it, binge read it until 3 am, regret my life choices the next morning, then search my “recommended” list the following days, and eventually settle on whatever the algorithmic gods decide to recommend.
The thing is, I don’t know if the algorithm is working in my favour. Because for every spot-on recommendation I get, another just as random seems to spawn. I would like to imagine that my books will find their ways to readers who will resonate with my words, but I do wonder how that actual journey will come to be.
In the case of self-publishing, how will my amalgamation of words and characters land on the eBook readers and bookshelves of people who aren’t my mother? (Shoutout Mom for being my number one supporter.)
In an attempt to answer this, I decided to conduct a little experiment: I spent one week reading only self-published books by BPOC authors. I wanted to understand how recommendation algorithms shape what we see and what we don’t.
I started by downloading, reading, and rating Will it Hurt? By Lily X. This was not only a sapphic paranormal romance, but also a fantastic time. The algorithm started doing its thing. Like when you’re pregnant, and suddenly all the ads your phone shows you are of overpriced baby items.
My recommended section was now a beautiful collection of paranormal romance, romantasy, queer romance, sapphic paranormal romance, and various iterations of these genres. What the algorithm seemed to not have noticed, however, was that the author was a woman of colour.
To go even deeper, I created brand new accounts on Goodreads, Fable, and StoryGraph. I marked Will It Hurt as read and waited for those recommendations to start rolling in. And roll in they did. Sort of.
The following six days, I tracked not just what I read, but what I was shown. The question wasn’t just whether I could find these books, but whether the system would let me keep finding them without my constant intervention.
Unsurprisingly, Goodreads seemed to follow a similar pattern as Kindle. Popular titles in the romance and romantasy categories were suggested, fewer in the queer/sapphic subgenre, probably because unlike with Kindle, this account had no record of my previous purchases/reads (Jensen, 2025).
In order to find new recommendations, I had to step outside of the default recommendation systems, so I turned to Fable and StoryGraph. This shift made a noticeable difference. StoryGraph, whose creator and CEO is a Black woman named Nadia Odunayo, became my best ally (StoryGraph.com, 2026). Intentionality matters, and as soon as I created a new account, I was prompted to add in as much input about which books I wanted to find. Although I wasn’t able to filter recommendations through a self-published criteria, I was able to find the information online with each book I encountered.
Over the course of this week writing, pacing, and emotional impact felt just as strong as what I’ve come to expect from traditionally published books.
What did stand out, though, was the sheer breadth of variation. Within a few days, I had encountered multiple iterations of fantasy, paranormal, and speculative storytelling; each with its own distinct approach to world-building, character dynamics, and plot. Even the covers felt more imaginative, often far more visually striking than their traditionally published counterparts. No two books felt like they were chasing the same trend. Which I understood to be a direct consequence of not having to fit into the specific requests of publishers. For a mood reader like me, this was ideal. Instead of trying to mould my mood around what was available, I could always find something that matched exactly what I wanted to read at that moment.
So, what happens when you try to read outside the mainstream and stay there? From a reader’s perspective, self-publishing feels like an expansion. It offers access to a far wider range of stories, and to diverse voices that might not have been given a chance in a predominantly cis, white, and heteronormative industry and a world of algorithmic recommendations. That abundance translated directly into my reading experience. My average rating this week was noticeably higher than the week before, when I was reading traditionally published books- not because one is inherently better than the other, but because I had more opportunities to find stories that truly resonated with me. There also seems to be a closer relationship between self-published authors and their audiences (Albanese and Milliot, 2024); and I wonder if the reason why these books seemed to have a higher rating is because of said close relationship and its power to help guide the writer without the filters of stuffy boardrooms and marketing specialists; and without the fear of failing to produce numbers to satisfy a fast paced industry.
However, it is worth acknowledging that I still had to actively do the work to diversify the recommendations I was seeing. Although, if I’m honest, that has also been my experience when reading traditionally published books.
My final verdict? Self-publishing, at least from where I’m standing as a reader, feels like enrichment: a widening of the landscape, and an invitation to explore beyond what the algorithm assumes I want.
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References:
Albanese, Andrew; Milliot, Jim; “Self-Publishing’s Output and Influence Continue to Grow”, via Publisher’s Weekly, 08/11/2024. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/96468-self-publishing-s-output-and-infuence-continue-to-grow.html (Accessed 31/03/2026).
Jensen, Kelly, “The Unbearable Whiteness of the Goodreads Choice Awards”, via BookRiot.com, Available at: https://bookriot.com/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-the-goodreads-choice-awards/ (Accessed 31/03/2026).
StoryGraph, Our Team, via StoryGraph.com, 2026. Available at: https://thestorygraph.com/team (Accessed 31/03/2026).
Deborah is a Literature and Creative Writing student at the University of the Highlands and Islands, balancing study with motherhood. She writes in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Catalan, and explores language, identity, belonging, and community in her work. She loves reading fantasy, unsettling horror, cosy murder mysteries, and drinking copious amounts of coffee.
Instagram: @watsondebb