Dystopian books used to exclusively mean the classics. The ones that are taught in school. 1984. Fahrenheit 451. The Handmaid’s Tale.
With the advent of the Kindle, the gates that kept all but a lucky (or connected) few out of the publishing world opened. Now anyone with an idea and a little technological know-how could publish a book into the world.
Of course, that made the task of finding the great books – the ones worth curling up with – much more difficult.
There have been great independent (indie) and self-published dystopian books – even ones that have captured the zeitgeist and had a lasting impact on us. Hugh Howey and Becky Chambers both began their careers as self-published authors.
But in a sea of choices (Amazon reports over 5,000 dystopian books, both indie and trad, published each month), how do we surface the great books?
Book marketing is still largely a word-of-mouth game, no matter who you are. The traditional publishers have a much larger bullhorn to shout about their new releases, but indies’ strategy to get their book into your hands is exactly the same. The more people who read a book and want to shout about it from the rooftops, the better the chance it has of getting into enough hands to be truly noticed by the book world.
These are the indie dystopian books that have made me immediately grab my megaphone.
Replacement by Jordan Rivet
This book is always gonna be at the top of my list whenever we’re talking about indie dystopias, okay? It’s fast-paced, there’s a mystery that grabs you from page one, and it gives Brave New World retelling vibes. It’s about an orphaned clone who gets assigned the job of pretending to be one of her batchmates after that batchmate dies. Or is murdered? Begins a 5-book series.
Sunshine by Emma Ellis
Emma Ellis has a number of dystopian series and she’s best known for Donate, which I included in my list of the best modern feminist dystopias, but Sunshine is my personal favorite of hers. About a woman who’s always wanted a child and the android she’s charged with raising, not only is it a poignant reflection on who (or what) deserves love, the worldbuilding is immersive and visceral as well. Book 1 of a trilogy. When I finished, I immediately picked up book 2.
Glassborn by KN Tristan
And now a word from our sponsor… (aka this one is mine). I wouldn’t purport to include my own book in this list because I can’t remove myself enough from it to tell you it’s objectively great. What I can tell you is that if you love the claustrophobia of Wool and the cold calculation of an AI villain like HAL 9000, Glassborn might be the book for you. It’s book 1 in a series and you can grab it on all book retailers, or you can download my dystopian starter pack for free – it includes two prequel novellas in the Glassborn world as well as a 45-book ultimate reader’s guide to the genre.
Divided by CC Robinson
This series is for fans of deep books that go hard on their character development. It’s about a near-future America in which the country has been fully segregated by race, and it follows one teen from each of the four regions. It’s YA but it covers some very heavy subjects with a sensitive touch, and it’s book 1 in a series.
Flow by Clare Littlemore
Written in the tradition of 2010s-era YA dystopias, fans of Divergent will feel right at home in Flow. (In fact, I included it in my list of the best modern YA dystopias.) In a flooded world, people live within the walls of a tightly controlled society. When it’s time to choose a career, Quin surprises even herself when she leaves her friends to work security on the wall. What she discovers there is that the real world is nothing like she’s been told.
Now We Are Animals by RP Nathan
If you read Tender is the Flesh and haven’t stopped thinking about it since, I think you should try this one. The tone is different – a YA series told through journal entries – but the theme is all about what separates us from animals. Aliens have invaded and are now farming humans like livestock, believing they have no higher thinking or creative abilities and therefore deserve nothing more. It’s a fast read that takes the argument to some interesting places.
Self-publishing has existed since 2007 (nearly 20 years – no, you’re old!) and the indie dystopian books that have sprang up around it have already gone through a few eras. At first, we were riding the trends of the popular traditionally published books (was there anything to write other than thinly veiled Hunger Games fanfic in 2008?).
Then people started figuring out how to build audiences on their own, and new worlds started to emerge. Wool started out as a passion project and turned into a three-million-copies-sold blockbuster with its own Apple TV series (you can read my review here – it’s one of my all-time faves and it heavily influenced the claustrophobic worldbuilding in my own Glassborn Chronicles series).
Now I believe indie dystopian books are entering a new era: one in which smaller creators are capable of achieving the same polished presentation as a traditionally published book, using the myriad tools and resources available to indies.
And no, I’m not talking about generative AI. I’m talking about collaborating with artists for killer cover/character art. I’m talking about hiring fellow small-business owners for deep developmental edits that take those stories from “oh, it’s self-published” to “wow, that’s self-published?!” I’m talking about ads hyper-targeted to their exact audience.
I think right now, indie authors have an opportunity to tell exactly the story they dream of telling, and to use the resources available to them to put that story into the hands of a reader who’s been waiting for – dying for – just that story.
Looking for more dystopian recommendations?
Grab the Ultimate Dystopian Reader Guide – 45 curated books organized by category, theme, and subject.
