Customer Reviews

The Step-by-Step Guide to Self-Publishing for Profit!: Start Your Own Home-Based Publishing Company and Publish Your Non-Fiction Book with CreateSpace and Amazon

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an author involved in self-publishing, I have purchased and read several books on the subject. This book is the best I have found so far. It is up-to-date, well-organized, well written and provides a ton of useful information. I would strongly recommend it, and I rarely give 5 star ratings. If you are looking for a place to start or to buy only one book, this is the one I would suggest.

I looked at the lead negative review, and I'm not sure that person and I am living in the same universe. Perhaps he received a copy that for some reason had printing errors. Nevertheless, I disagree strongly with the negative comments. And no, I was not asked to review the book, I do not know Ms. Pinheiro, and I found and bought the book on Amazon.

The only word of warning I would offer is that the book is written for those interested in publishing non-fiction books. Although authors of works of fiction would probably find the book somewhat useful, it is aimed for those looking to publish non-fiction.

At one time, self-publishing meant commissioning a printer to make up 5,000 copies of your book, then storing them in your basement until you sold them. Not any more. CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon, will print just a single copy of your book at a time, and only in response to a customer order on Amazon. Christy Pinheiro's and Nick Russell's text walks you through the steps of self-publishing in this new and digital way.

The authors encourage you to think of self-publishing as a business venture. This means they give all the steps necessary to register and plan a business, and at the same time, they discourage the publication of fiction, memoirs, and personal opinions that really aren't viable as commercial propositions.

This is a very practical book -- precisely the kind of specialized how-to guide the authors say the CreateSpace process works best for. The only thing missing, I felt, was information on book design and typesetting, for which the authors refer the reader to volumes covering these subjects. All in all, this is an excellent guide for the publishing beginner who wants to be walked through the process of self-publishing from conception and planning to production and marketing.

I received this book as a prize after winning a blog contest. I am a published author and as such have done much research in the area of self publishing primarily for poetry chapbooks. What I enjoyed most about this book is the detailed information and tips it provided for each and every step through the process of self publishing.

As a writer, I like to create but I'm not at all tech savvy when it comes to the nuts and bolts of publishing. I'm the type of person that needs each little detail explained as simply as possible. This book is exactly what I need. For example, I was fretting over how to convert a word doc file to a pdf file with my hair becoming grayer by the minute. This book not only tells you how to do it but also gives you the information to format the document to every specification available. The author writes from the perspective of a teacher explaining the entire process from beginning to end leaving you WITHOUT any questions when you have finished reading the book. I learned so much from this book and now feel that I am ready to begin the publishing process for my next poetry collection.

This book is a MUST read if you are a writer. It is informative, concise and the holy grail of publishing how to's. Buy it!

This book was aimed at authors of non-fiction books. Why is that? The answer is contained inside the pages: selling self-published fiction is more difficult than selling non-fiction in which an author can entice readers with a particular topic that interests them. There are many more answers in this beautifully crafted how-to book. Christy Pinheiro and Nick Russell touch on most of the topics that an author encounters in getting a book into publication without a traditional publisher. Some of the information would even behoove a traditionally published author who discovers that much of the promotion responsibility belongs to the author. One third of the pages cover the marketing tangents.
There are lots of tips on creating a business, dealing with taxes, and other practical and necessary details that an author probably wouldn't consider until a problem pops up.

I must issue one caveat. This book reads like an advertisement for CreateSpace - which just recently merged with Book Surge (both owned by Amazon). Instructions on using CreateSpace are part of the package, so if you are not using CreateSpace, some of the material will be irrelevant. For this reason, I have only rated this book with four stars. [...]. This book did contain some misinformation dealing with Lulu, but a future edition will correct that, according to Christy. It might have been nice to see a parallel presentation here showing how to publish with both companies.

This book is not as comprehensive as Dan Poynter's The Self Publishing Manual, but it is more readable. Christy and Nick have both made the self-publishing journey and have enjoyed success. I think this book can aid in helping other authors make the same journey.

Donald James Parker
Author of Christian culture-clash fiction

Christy Pinheiro's book on self-publishing is best geared towards authors who want to go the CreateSpace route. In a way, it's similar to Aiming at Amazon, but Aaron Shepard recommends Lightning Source for the best profitability. Pinheiro's book is like Shepard's book, but the focus is on CreateSpace.

CreateSpace is ideal for beginning self-publishers. In this book, the author warns aspiring authors about vanity presses, usually known as self-publishing companies. I personally see nothing wrong about using such a company, but these companies often partake in shady practices. So be sure you know what you're getting yourself into. Using one of these companies is your best option if (a) you're more concerned about having a book published, (b) don't mind paying the publishing fees these companies charge, and (c) don't want to bother learning the technical aspects of publishing, such as formatting and cover design.

I already knew much of the information in this book. One thing that makes this book different from most others is the author's inclusion of Google AdWords. I've used this feature before, and it earned me nearly $700 in one month. If you look at my blog recent post, you'll notice a huge spike in profit of June 2009. This is the month in which I advertised Demystifying Spanish Grammar through Google AdWords.

This book is full of useful information and stories of successful authors. My only real criticism of the book is that it's too long. It's almost as big as a textbook, which might look unwelcoming to potential buyers. Another criticism I have is that I don't agree with using CreateSpace for maximum profitability. However, CreateSpace is a great starting point beginning self-publishers. (I sometimes wish I had worked with CreateSpace first, and then moved onto Lightning Source). For these two reasons, I can only give it a four-star rating.

Brandon Simpson

Overall, I think this is a great guide and I would recommend it to anyone involved with self-publishing. This guide is great for beginners as it has a very wide range of 'how-to' topics, ranging from obtaining ISBNs in the most cost effective way, to setting yourself up with Google AdWords. For more experienced self-publishers, I think this guide does provide some very useful advice and great examples, but you may not find as much in here as you might think.

Best bits were: clear layout, interesting and funny content, and wide range of material.

Only complaints is that sometimes I felt like important bits were being skimmed over. For example, I think there could have been a little more information on how to use ISBNs properly, what you can and can't do with them etc. For example, if I publish with CreateSpace and am assigned one of their ISBNs, can I buy my own ISBN later and change it over to that? If so, what are the consequences? What rights are held back from me by using a CS ISBN? Those kinds of issues...

As I said, overall I think this is fantastic. There's a lot of info that is specific to the USA (tax issues, business registration etc.) and I'm a British reader living in Italy, so that really didn't apply to me, but there isn't too much as to alienate a non-US (or US involved) reader. I'm in the process of publishing my first two books (see below) and as I was reading this, so many things 'struck' me and I wonder how many times I would have made a mistake if I hadn't read this! Thanks!

Great book, hope to see a more 'advanced' edition coming soon!


Camilla Barker

Author of, "Dignity in International Human Rights Law" and "Essentially Equality: International Legal Protection for Sexual Minorities".

SETUP YOUR OWN PUBLISHING COMPANY AND SELF-PUBLISH YOUR OWN NON-FICTION BOOK...

I'm a published author and used a vanity press. Didn't know better and just retired from the military two years earlier (this was back in 2001). Had a burning desire to become a published author and share what I've learned. The publisher I worked with promised me the sky and ceiling in exchange for publishing fees. I fell for it without thinking. Little did I know that they were "making money hand over fist" and I collected ZERO royalties! Customers were buying the book from amazon.com but I saw NO royalties!

Not three months later after the book was published, the company went into bankruptcy and out of business. My two books no longer sell on amazon.com and I will NEVER trust a traditional publisher again unless they offer me a written contract with a monetary advance.

Welcome Christy Pinheiro's book on Self-Publishing. I only wish I had this information sooner as I COULD HAVE DONE EVERYTHING well explained in the book FOR A FRACTION of what that so-called publisher did. Christy explains everything from book conception, into final print in tandem with amazon.com.

THE BEST PART... YOU'RE IN CONTROL... NOT YOUR PUBLISHER!

STAY AWAY FROM AND AVOID VANITY PRESSES!!!

THEY ARE DANGEROUS TO YOUR MANUSCRIPT'S HEALTH.

Buy Christy's book and you WON'T be disappointed!

I'm interested in self-publishing and found this a valuable overview of how it works -- and how to actually make money through your writing. It makes some important points about the necessity of having a specific, niche market to target your writing to, and provides an excellent look at how best to market your book after it's published, particularly via the Internet. The information about how to make money using Google AdWords and Amazon's Affiliate program was totally new to me. Although this book touches on other companies, it focuses on Amazon's CreateSpace and how to publish your book through them. The step-by-step instructions were very clear and made me feel like I could easily do the formatting necessary for my book.

This book wouldn't be as valuable to people who write fiction or memoirs and want to self-publish. It's very focused on non-fiction writers, since that's your best bet to sell books and make money. I highly recommend it to all non-fiction writers interested in exploring the field of self-publishing.

I've read several books on self-publishing but this is the one that I keep coming back to over and over again. It's become my "bible" and the book that I keep close at hand at all times.

This book filled in all the blanks for me on how to use CreateSpace and all the basics of self-publishing that I never would have thought of. It's filled with tips to make this process as painless as possible.

I highly recommend "The Step by Step Guide to Self-Publishing" for anyone who wants to use CreateSpace to self-publish their own book on Amazon.com.

I am not sure how to account for the stellar reviews. I can tell you that I was not asked to review the book, found it through an Amazon search, and approach this review from the perspective of an experienced business person who wanted to learn more about self-publishing.

Wouldn't you think that a book on self-publishing would itself be a good example of what the reader should strive for. . . a well-written, suitably printed product, virtually indistinguishable from a book released by a major publishing house? Think again. I suffered through this poorly written and agonizingly repetitive example of what I would not want a self-published book to be. As a further reminder of the book's less than professional demeanor, I found "white spots" throughout, giving it the appearance that it was printed on a copy machine about to run out of ink.

This is only one of two books I bought on the subject. (I will review "Aiming at Amazon" after I've read it.) So I am unable to recommend whether this is as good as it gets, or if there is a better source of information. I am not saying that I walked away with nothing. To the contrary, the book provided some interesting insights. Easily, however, it could have and should have been a much shorter book, given the extreme repetitiveness and disorganization of the author's writing style. Overall, the business advice given would be helpful to only the most inexperienced of readers, and even so should be used with caution because of its oversimplicity. Her description of how she and others price books are a good example. I have no doubt that it is an accurate representation of how they actually do it. . . but that does not make it good business advice.

To what may be your surprise, despite my criticisms, I passed the book onto a colleague who also was interested in learning more about self-publishing. . . as something he may want to read despite my many qualifications. He has since read the book and had a similar impression, calling it "painful to read" because of the author's writing style, and "not providing enough valid information to make it worth reading."

One more thing. . . While it is a minor point, I find it interesting that among the author's advice was her suggestion that women consider using only a first initial on the book cover as to not negatively impact sales. Come on. . . This is 2010. Given the subject matter, I think she could have used her first name.

In conclusion, if you are an experienced business person and MUST learn more about self-publishing, skim through the majority of the book to find areas that may be helpful. And don't expect much. If you have little or no business experience, you may find the book more useful . . . but react with caution to the author's advice, knowing that it is overly simplistic. . . and that self-publishing is probably not something you should pursue as a viable business model, without first seeking out good business advisors, especially if you have no previous experience running a start-up or small business venture.