This new, updated edition of the industry standard shows writers how to get full control over their careers by self-publishing. Writers will see how the publishing industry works and learn how to make it work for them. Packed with maximum profit/minimal risk ideas. The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 4th Edition provides readers with: Step-by-step guidance on every aspect of publishing and marketing a book; Appendices that list marketing contacts, government help and vendors, including names and addresses; Updated advice on e-publishing and electronic rights - everything the writer needs to know to tackle this dynamic new medium; Production tips that can cut design and printing costs; Proven sales letter formats, cover designs and catalog sheets; Dynamic marketing strategies for publicity, advertising and sales - specifically, what works and what doesn't
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
"Self-publishing," say authors Tom and Marilyn Ross, "is a perfect example of the American dream." The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, then, is an aspiring self-publisher's dream. "This isn't a book of fancy theory," as the authors put it; "it's a practical handbook of state-of-the-art specifics." In 521 pages, it lays out everything you need to know to publish your own books, from start-up considerations to the possibility of selling to a big publisher: how to choose a name for your press, how to get an ISBN, what cover designs cost, how to find a reliable printer, how to price your book, where to find lighter-weight shipping envelopes, how to generate working capital. The authors' encyclopedic grasp of the ins and outs of self-publishing is matched by their natural good sense about self-promotion. Turn your signings into events, they recommend; get your books into a variety of venues; use the books as fundraisers for organizations; get online and get reviewed online. The price of this book is negligible considering the cost of proper self-publishing (between $12,000 and $25,000), and, oh, the headaches it will spare you! --Jane Steinberg
Review
"The most readable guide to self-publishing … loaded with resources for e-publishing, on-demand publishing, ... What a great resource!” -- John Kremer, author, 1,001 Ways to Market Your Books
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
126 of 129 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I first saw the title of this book, I thought the subject matter had to do with publishing your book through a POD publisher or a vanity press. I couldn't have been more wrong. This is a basic instruction book on how to become your own publisher and the cost-effective means of publishing your book. (In fact, Tom & Marilyn Ross devote only a few pages to PODs and vanity presses, saying that if you are looking to sell your book to the general public, these options may not be the best choices.)
This book takes you from the beginning of setting up your own publishing business (which is needed even if you plan on publishing only you own works), the different requirements for publishing a book (like obtaining an ISBN and EAN as well as copyright and Library of Congress registration), finding and selecting a book printer, how to go about distributing you books (which you can do yourself or by going through traditional distributers), and even how to market your book.
While a good starter book that whets you appitite about the book publishing industry, it falls far short of providing you everything that you need to know in order to do this properly. The authors constantly make reference to the Literary Market Place; a book that, while it is available here on Amazon, comes with a hefty ($) price tag. And while they do provide some inforamative lists, they admit that the lists is not complete and refer you back to the LMP.
The book does discuss e-publishing, but only in a scratching-the-surface kind of way. I had to look at other areas to find the information about e-publishing only to discover that I may not want to bother with that at this time.
The most disappointing aspect of the book that I found was that most of it (about 70%) is dedicated to trade or self-help publishing. If the book you are planning to publish is a fictional novel, this is going to be of little help to you. When I realized that a topic being discussed was geared for trade publications, I just skipped the topic to save me time.
To summarize, this is a great book if you are a beginner and want to explore the publishing world. It's even a great book if you are planning to publish a trade publication. However, I would recommend that if you have any knowledge or if you are seriously pursuing self-publishing you may want to look at other books in this topic to supplement this one, especially if you are planing on publishing works of fictions.
As of January 29, 2004: I had previously rated this book at three stars. After reading a number of other books, I have since upgraded this to 4 stars. The reason for this is that this book has been more complete compared to the other books that I have read, plus Tom and Marilyn Ross continue to provide assistance to others online. I am still withholding a star because I think they should have addressed fictional works as much as they did trade books.
74 of 79 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Given the solid-five star rating in the Amazon reviews, I expected this book to be a real gem. Instead, while this book has some helpful tips, much of the book is composed of:
-common sense advice;
-self-promotion by the authors, including references to other books or organizations affiliated with the authors;
-no-brainers such as "use the internet for research", "try a search engine called 'Google'", etc.; and
-home-spun "witticisms" or "words of wisdom" in the form of quotes from various authors & publishers.
To wrap up, this book is decent, and probably worth the money and time to buy it and read it, but you need to wade through a bunch of verbiage to find the parts that are interesting and relevant to you.
-common sense advice;
-self-promotion by the authors, including references to other books or organizations affiliated with the authors;
-no-brainers such as "use the internet for research", "try a search engine called 'Google'", etc.; and
-home-spun "witticisms" or "words of wisdom" in the form of quotes from various authors & publishers.
To wrap up, this book is decent, and probably worth the money and time to buy it and read it, but you need to wade through a bunch of verbiage to find the parts that are interesting and relevant to you.
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tom & Marilyn Ross are experts at promoting themselves, and it shows throughout their book. They take every opportunity to hawk other books published under their label, and their consulting services, etc. There is some useful information in this book, but you have to wade through a lot of silliness to find it. Here's a ridiculous tip from the Ross's: "While at the airport, request that an announcement be made for [your name], author of [your book title], call..." I'm sure that's how Tom Clancy got started <sarcasm>.
This book is primarily targeted to writers of non-fiction. Logical, since non-fiction fares much better in self-publishing endeavors. About their biggest advice for novelists is to read Lawrence Block's "Writing the Novel." Along with such brilliant insights as "Good description elevates a book from the pack." Duh.
The authors are also nauseating in their praise of Amazon, no wonder Amazon gave them a favorable review. A friend of mine self-recorded (i.e. "self-published") a CD and listed it on Amazon. It was a good, professional product, but she found Amazon's service to be almost non-existent.
Dan Poynter's book on self-publishing might be a better buy. The truth is, POD technology is changing this field so quickly, it's hard for anyone to stay up to date. If you must read the Ross's book, get it from your local library. Save your money for a writing class, or perhaps a marketing class at your local SBA office or community college.
This book is primarily targeted to writers of non-fiction. Logical, since non-fiction fares much better in self-publishing endeavors. About their biggest advice for novelists is to read Lawrence Block's "Writing the Novel." Along with such brilliant insights as "Good description elevates a book from the pack." Duh.
The authors are also nauseating in their praise of Amazon, no wonder Amazon gave them a favorable review. A friend of mine self-recorded (i.e. "self-published") a CD and listed it on Amazon. It was a good, professional product, but she found Amazon's service to be almost non-existent.
Dan Poynter's book on self-publishing might be a better buy. The truth is, POD technology is changing this field so quickly, it's hard for anyone to stay up to date. If you must read the Ross's book, get it from your local library. Save your money for a writing class, or perhaps a marketing class at your local SBA office or community college.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Too much (out of date) information
The subtitle for this book is "Everything you need to know to write, publish, promote and sell your own book," and it truly does cover everything. Read more
Published 15 days ago by C. N. Ghabhann
Free Kindle book
This is a useful resource for aspiring writers. It contains the information necessary to get one started on putting out one's own book.
Published 24 days ago by Roberta C. McDade
It's complete and very readable
I have completed a novel on the discovery of the electron (science historical fiction genre) and it is ready for submission to a subsidy publisher or publishing it myself. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jacob Shapiro
Outstanding!
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Mrs. Ross and Ms. Collier for the outstanding job they did in putting all this information together. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Beatrice Bruno
The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing Book Review
There are a lot of books available about self-publishing today. What there is not a lot of are books written by people who have actually done it more than once with good success. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Bluedolphin Crow
Good reference book for beginners!
I found the book to be an easy read. I do think that the author overstated or repeated a lot of information and seemed to talk down to the read to reinforce key points.
Published 5 months ago by Peanut09
Terribly out of date
This is a resource book. I went through most of the links and found they don't exist. And with the sites that are there (after I google them), they don't even do what the authors... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Joseph P. Yager
Best Place to Start
Self-Publishing gave me enough tools and ideas to publish my first book. There are a wide breadth of tasks to accomplish and this book pulls them together in usefully organized... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Tara Nolan
Great Primer to Self Publishing
I'll start with the bad before going to the good. There is some of that. But, the good outweighs the bad enough that I still gave it 5 stars. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Steven
Published author
I bought this book on the referral of another self-published author. At first i found it a wealth of information, and though there were many generalized statements about companies... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Kiexiza Rodriquez
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Self-publishingthe act of privately producing and marketing your own work is an American tradition as old as the thirteen colonies. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Publishers Weekly, Buena Vista, San Diego, Marilyn Ross, Los Angeles, Communication Creativity, Library of Congress, Country Bound, Cedar Street, Media Mail, Writer's Market, Advance Book Information, American Library Association, Ann Markham, Discover Your Roots, Fore Word, Writer's Digest Books, Book Sense, Cassidy Books, Mark Twain, Random House, Tattered Cover, Authors Guild New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Self-publishingthe act of privately producing and marketing your own work is an American tradition as old as the thirteen colonies. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Publishers Weekly, Buena Vista, San Diego, Marilyn Ross, Los Angeles, Communication Creativity, Library of Congress, Country Bound, Cedar Street, Media Mail, Writer's Market, Advance Book Information, American Library Association, Ann Markham, Discover Your Roots, Fore Word, Writer's Digest Books, Book Sense, Cassidy Books, Mark Twain, Random House, Tattered Cover, Authors Guild New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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84
books
cite this book:
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- Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble! by Bernard B. Kamoroff on 6 pages
- Small Time Operator by Bernard Kamoroff on 6 pages
- Guerilla Marketing for the Nineties: Revised Edition by Jay Conrad Levinson on 4 pages
- Inc Yourself, 10th Edition (Inc. Yourself: How to Profit by Setting Up Your Own Corporation) by Judith McQuown on page 100, page 427, and Back Matter
- Writer Publisher by Charles N Aronson in Front Matter, page 45, and page 47
See all 100 books this book cites
- Book Design and Production by Pete Masterson on page 14, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Publishing to Niche Markets by Gordon Burgett on page 21, page 144, and Back Matter
- Guerrilla Saving: Secrets of Keeping Profits in Your Home-Based Business (Guerrilla Marketing) by Conrad Levinson on page 60, page 62, and Back Matter
- Make Money Self-Publishing : Learn How from Fourteen Successful Small Publishers by Suzanne P. Thomas on page 21, and Back Matter
- Turn Your Passion Into Profit by Walt F.J. Goodridge in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 84 books citing this book
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