Are you Ready to Self Publish

29 Apr Are you Ready to Self Publish

As my little house takes off and more people are sending in manuscripts I find myself drawn to books on formatting and how to publish using the print on demand services. I stumbled across this guide “A detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and other Online Booksellers, Volume 1”
If you are just starting out this book is full of formatting tips, choosing a publisher, creating book covers and publishing both print and ebooks. There are two volumes to this book but I believe that they could both be combined in one volume.
I have several issues with this book. The biggest on is that they are in love with Amazon to the detriment of the other opportunities out there. They only briefly mentioned Lightning Source, which is the only print on demand printer that will take back returns.
The printed word is actually growing, and who knows where the ebook will go. Despite the favor among smart phones and tablets, many people still prefer an ereader the epaper and eink is much easier to read than the glare of the screens of tables and smart phones.
There are so many more opportunities out there. For that reason, though he has many great tips I have to give it three stars. If it was more general or talked about other publishers more it would have gotten more stars, but for me, I am rooting for the little guy. The indie bookstore, the small press, we need to take back our books from Amazon. Therefore books on self publishing or starting your own imprint should embrace more than createspace and kdp.
Just my two cents worth.