Have you ever self-published a book?

Question

If so, what are the Pros and Cons. Can you recommend a reliable company to do this with and any tips?
Thanks!

Answer 1

I can't say that I've personally ever self-published, but I am perhaps more familiar with it than most. Some of the advantages are obvious - you don't have to deal with the vaguarities of large publishers or agents (who tend to only print books that are popular instead of ones that are actually GOOD), you have almost total control of the final form of the product, and you don't have to surrender any rights, even temporarily.

One con is obvious. It costs money. Or if you're thinking of just putting an e-book online then it's very prone to theft and being lost in a sea of other e-books. Other cons are more subtle:

For example, you are not likely to receive any literary credit for your work. Unless something freakish occurs, no reviewer is going to review it, no paper is going to cover it, and few (if any) bookstores will carry it. ANYONE can print up a book if they have money, so most professionals assume that if you can't convince someone else to risk money to print your book, then your book has no merit whatsoever.

This assumption may not be true, but that's just the way the industry lies right now. That's why self-publishing is also called 'vanity press'. If anything, vanity publishing is most likely to attach a stigma to you and put you further behind than doing nothing if you are after things like fame, wealth, recognition, and the like.

Of course, that's not always so. Some people find no other way to get good material out, and once it does begin to circulate it becomes wildly popular in spite of all these apparent obstacles. You just have to understand the odds.

Answer 2

Self Publishing is good for organizations which want to distribute a book to it's members. But the problem happens you want to sell it in a bookstore -- you need a distributor. A self publishing company just helps design the book, prints it and hands it to you. If you really want to write a book that sells, buy a book called "A Writers Guide" and it will show you what you need to do to sell a book. Getting published without an agent is impossible and if you can't sell your book to a "real" publisher, you can't get your book into the stores. I'm going to be honest with you, every author needs an editor to help shape their book and you can't do that unless you sell your work to a real publisher and then they assign an editor to help you to essentially rewrite the book. Without all that behind you, self publishing or vanity publishing usually results in a lot of boxes of unsold books in the garage. Buy "The Writers Guide." The economics are this: the book store\chain gets 50 percent of every book sold. They only keep books that sell so they can get that 50 percent. If they sell 500 books at an average of twenty dollars each that's still only $5,000 bucks in revenue. They can only afford to keep books that move and they won't take a chance on a new writer unless they have a real publishing company who believes enough in the book to back it. I don't want to discourage you from writing, but use "The Writers Guide" they will tell you the only way to get "really" published. The good news is that if the publisher likes the book they will give you a nice advance.

Answer 3

I self-published one book which was written for a specific occasion and not commercialy viable. It was an interesting exercise. If you are looking to publish a book and hoping to sell it in the general book market, I would not recommend self-publishing. Firstly, a regular publisher provides editorial services, does layout and design, selects type and font, designs covers, oversees the printing, then is responsible for distribution and marketing. The last is the one that kills you. Most major book stores will not touch self published books, so you have to try to market them yourself, and it becomes a full time job. Also a costly one, as you have to travel from place to place to service the stores. If you want the book available outside of your general area, you are going to have to travel to try and place it in bookstores elsewhere, and then travel back to service the account. So the bottom in is, if you want to make any money from your book, find a known publisher. If you want to do it yourself and don't plan on hitting the major markets, you can hire consultants who will help you through the process but it isn't inexpensive.
Good luck!

Answer 4

I havent, but I know its really easy on cafepress.com
But I would only do it if you cant find a publisher that wants to publish your book. They can really get your book marketed and in all the hot stores

Answer 5

iuniverse is good.
i know a guy who published several there.

Answer 6

No