New book coming in early September

Two of my previous books about publishing—Become a Real Self-Publisher and Stupid, Sloppy, Sleazy—made a distinction between books published by “real” or “independent” self-publishers and those published by author services companies—which often call themselves self-publishing companies, and which are less charitably known as vanity publishers.

Those two books warn writers about those companies—but acknowledge that independent self-publishing is not right for every author and that there are legitimate reasons to use self-publishing companies.

I will not stop supporting independent self-publishers, but this new book is not fighting that battle again. Get the Most out of a Self-Publishing Company is a “big tent,” and the advice it provides should be useful to all authors, regardless of their path to publication.

It also includes updates made necessary by events since the publication of Become a Real Self Publisher, including iPad, MS Word 2010, Nook, Pubit!, AuthorHive and other recent developments which affect self-publishers. It's loaded with info and tips based on personal experience self-publishing ten books. The book is useful for all authors, and funny, too.

While some self-publishing companies produce excellent books and have reasonable prices, others have done terrible work and overcharged their customers.

It is possible to get a high-class book, at a reasonable price—if you choose the right company, carefully check its work, perhaps do some work yourself, and consider independent editors and designers.

• Don’t buy services and trinkets you don’t need.
• Pay the right prices for what you do need.
• Don’t be seduced by low-ball/bare-bones publishing pack-ages—or by super-deluxe packages. A $199 book will probably look like junk. A $399 book probably won’t look any better. A $50,000 book will never earn back its cost of publication.
• Let the publisher do the nitty-gritty “grunt work” which you don’t want to get involved in.
• Concentrate on the creative process to make a good-reading, good-looking book which you can be proud of and perhaps make money from.
• Inspect your book carefully before it goes on sale. Even if a stupid mistake was caused by someone else, your name is on the book, and every error is ultimately your responsibility.
• Don’t rely only on others for marketing and publicity. Your book is more important to you than it is to anyone else. You must sell your book. Even if you pay others to promote your book, if people don’t buy it, it’s your fault.