Self-publishing, not for the faint of heart

So it’s a new year. That means it is time to get on your grind and do what you got to do to get that book you’ve been harboring published.  Self-publishing is not for the faint of heart.  First things first, you are going to spend more than $100.00, so if you think you are going to get this project done on the cheap, it’s not going to happen. This is true especially if you want to put out a quality product.

How did I decide to self-publish?  Basically, I got tired of hearing no and I had the capital to do it right.  I got started by doing some serious research on what it means to really self-publish.  One thing I found out quickly is that I did not want to be a publisher.  Let’s get this straight first; you can publish your own work by doing all the bonding, purchasing ISBN numbers, and keeping a stockpile of your own product that you have to move yourself.  You can do all that and maybe spend thousands of dollars, or you can contact some self-publishing companies, such as Xlibris where I had my first work published.  If you decide to do the latter, please take the time to research the company you will be doing business with.

If you decide you want to be your own true publisher then I would start with purchasing your set of ISBN numbers.  These are pivotal for getting your work in the market.  After that, I would look into where and how you want to bond your books because this can be the most expensive of the endeavor.  Once you find the prices that are optimal for you and you have the product ready for printing get to work.  I’m not giving a whole lot of information in this blog because I think it behooves all writers to do their homework.  This is just the tip of the iceberg. You will find going this route will be very cumbersome, however the outcome for most is optimal, if you work hard and create a quality product to sell (which is a beast all in and of itself).

On the other hand, you have the option of going to self-publishing companies you can find on the web.  These companies take your work in its word processing form and create the book you want.  First things first, make sure whoever you pick allows you to keep all the rights to your work.  Also, I probably should have said this first, but I thought it was common sense, copyright your work yourself.  Do not, I repeat, do not let the company do it for you no matter how good it sounds or cheap it may be.  It is just better for any author to have all of their own work copyrighted themselves.  You can find these companies by doing a simple web search for self-publishing.  The best ones out are Authorhouse, Lulu, Outskirtspress and Xlibris.  Like I mentioned before, be ready to spend some money and have fun with it.