Customer Reviews

Self-Publishing For Dummies

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You can probably tell from the books that I have written that I have had some experience with self-publishing. However, the difference is the second time around was possible thanks to experience from reading Rich's book, "Self-Publishing For Dummies". I followed A-Z what he covered in the book and applied the specifics of my audience and came out with an amazing product.

My first book, Under the Lontar Palm, I published with a company that ended up charging customers 17.00 for the book. I had no control over the pricing and knew nothing of the publishing industry. The sales and marketing experience was as limited as my knowledge at the time and eight years later, the same paperback is listed at the same high price.

My second and most recent endeavor found me writing about a subject that had a large but limited audience. It was a subject I knew well and there are no other references for the audience. I bought the self-publishing book, followed the plan and now am experiencing the pleasure of knowing what I'm doing and providing a great product for my customers.

The Self-publishing for Dummies teaches how to format the book block and the cover, suggests resources or vendors who can provide the technical services. The author also explains how to get ISBN's, copyright, library congress numbers and other technicalities of writing a book and forming your publishing company. Additionally, he gives great advice on how you can register your company (sole proprietor, LLC, or corporation based on size and mission) and how to budget.

I decided to start my own publishing company (Red Bike Publishing) and distribute using lightning source. This is the same distributor that my novel's publisher used. This time, I control the cost and there are definite benefits. However, this is what works for me. The good thing about Rich's book is that he helps the reader analyze the best publishing option for them.

The next vital part is the marketing. Excellent advice on how to market my niche book. From his advice, I developed my own network and am enjoying professional relationships, sales and great opportunities from doing what I enjoy.

Obviously I haven't quit my day job, but now I have the experience and know how to get my next book going and continue to market my current book. I was able to provide a professional product, start a publishing company and make sales.

the content isn't efficient. it's organized in a way that some of the beginning information is tiresomely repeated. there are a couple of misused words and there seemed to be an effort to pad the word count. typical of today's market. it's just barely up to the usual "For Dummies" standard. but, it's a good introduction.

this helped me to decide that i wont print publish. without a turnkey printing solution (at least hundreds of dollars), it costs around $270 for your first ISBN (what a gouge) plus printing/binding/promotion. if you cant do your own design, at least hundreds more. if you can't do your own editing/proofreading, at least hundreds more. that information was very useful to me. the print market is absolutely flooded with less than outstanding content and presentation, and a gem quality book is expensive to produce. if you're not john grisham or jkr, it looks to me like lottery tickets would be a better use of the money.

jason also recommends that authors participate in forums and write book reviews so they can plug their own work. that's why our customer review sections and forums are clogged with self-serving industry spam.

not all authors use their own name. pen names aren't covered here.

i think i'll just brush up on html/css, offer my content free on the web and do some of my own content search optimizing. there's not nearly as much downside potential, just the time spent and hosting cost.

While Dan Poynter's Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual, 16th Edition: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book (Self Publishing Manual) is an invaluable and necessary book for any self-publisher, it can be intimidating simply because of its main strength - it covers so much. On the other hand, Self-Publishing for Dummies, while containing many details as well - but not nearly as many as Poynter's manual, is a good place to begin for those who would like to ease into the complex world of self-publishing with a well-written and engaging overview.

I have many books related to all types of publishing, but still found benefit in reading Jason Rich's book. It helped me keep relevant details better organized in my mind. I also found it helpful when choosing new priorities or a new point of focus for marketing my book.

I've read this book and includes some valuable information. However, it is almost unforgivable that the author does not mention a threat to authors, and that is "vanity presses" as way to self-publish. "Vanity presses" are businesses that appeal to the "vanity" of the authors. They usually ask authors some money ahead so they publish their works. Because of this, they usually have dubious business practices. Ironically this book suggests a list of presses in which some names of the list are suspected of being vanity presses.

On the other hand, I find it incredible that it does not include Lulu as being one possible way to self-publish.

So, in good conscience I cannot recommend this book.

This book is easy to read and explains exactly how an up-and-coming writer can get their own work published. The book is very informative and useful.

This book answered every question I had about self-publishing.
All the fears I had about my project disappeared.
It is well-written and illustrated very uniquely.

I consider this book one of the basic references for the the library of self-publishers. It covers a variety of topics well and is laid-out in an easy to read fashion. For those considering the self-publishing of their own book and looking for a text with a "how to do it from scratch" narrative, I invite them to read my book Self-Publishing Your Book--A Nuts And Bolts Approach.

Excellent source of information for the first-time author like myself. The information on ISBN, and such was very useful.

Rich's "Cheat Sheet," Rich Tennant's hilarious cartoons, the user-friendly format, and the graphics make this book easy to navigate.

Ron D. Mead, author, "A Concise Grammar Book for Those Who Hate Grammar."

I found this book very valuable. It is like a compass. It points the way through the self-publishing journey. I just finished co-authoring a book. I had no idea what was ahead to market the book until I read Self-Publishing for Dummies. I now have an action plan!
Mary100metzger@gmail.com