Publish Like the Pros: A Brief Guide to Quality Self-Publishing and an Insider's Look at a Misunderstood Industry (Paperback)
Reviewed by
Well, here it is. In a little 79-page nutshell. The basics for any writer thinking about publishing a book on his or her own. It dispels the idea that anyone can or should self-publish. As Author Michele DeFilippo says, "It ain't easy." She then provides a roadmap--indeed a very succinct Mapquest directional--to the basics an author needs to know in order to produce a professional product (and yes, a book is a product!). Indeed, it will help authors evaluate whether this is a project they really want to tackle. And to avoid some pitfalls many first-time authors fall into when they decide to go for it.
"Publish Like the Pros" is a little short on resources, but a book can't be everything to everyone. This book calls itself a "Brief Guide." It also uses the words "QUALITY Self-Publishing." Generally speaking, this is the perfect way to get started. "Brief" and "Quality" being keywords.
There are tons of other books to delve into that cover any all aspects of self-publishing once an author has determined he or she wants to go that route. That includes books like:
Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Your Books with Print on Demand and Online Book Marketing on Amazon.com,
From Word to Kindle: Self Publishing Your Kindle Book with Microsoft Word, or Tips and Secrets for Formatting Your Text in MS Word and Converting Your Document to a Kindle Ebook (Version 2),
The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing: Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, Promote and Sell Your Own Book,
The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (How To Do It Frugally series of book for writer),
Book Promo 101: Learn the basics of Book Promotion,
The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher,
1001 Ways to Market Your Books (1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers),
From Book to Bestseller: An Insider's Guide to Publicizing and Marketing Your Book!
Mosquito Marketing for Authors: How I self-published an award-winning book that is a consistent best seller in its category
and dozens of others.
The reason I'm recommending other books as well is that, though the author of this book is the owner of a service that helps writers publish and do it professionally (This little book is proof of that!), I worry that many beginning authors overspend on both production and marketing. They often spend more than they will ever earn unless they are among the very talented and very lucky few. Thus it is is wise to start with this very, very valuable overview. And--once committed--to learn as much as possible the frugal way (with books!) in order to determine what they might learn to do themselves or at least better understand how to hire the best at the best possible price.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
