Customer Reviews

U-Publish.com: A 'Living Book' To Help You Compete With The Giants Of Publishing

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The information contained in this "book" is equivalent to that found in a so-so magazine article. Not only is it short (63 pgs) it is fluffed up by using large font and huge spaces between lines. The back cover touts it as a "concise guide to self-publishing. It gives new meaning to the word "concise." It is little more than an advertisement for a website. I was somewhat surprised to see Dan Poynter had lent his name to this publication. Someone new to self-publishing would be better off buying Dan Poynter's "The Self-Publishing Manual" to get some real information.

Some reviewers on Amazon have complained that this book offers little value for your money. Furthermore, they have complained that it's SHORT.

Well, let's be clear about the short bit, first. The publisher's blurb (see above) describes it as a `concise guide to self-publishing, briefly summarizing key steps in preparing books for independent publication.'

That is surely plain enough. And since when has being short been a disadvantage?

One of the reasons why U-Publish.com 4.0 doesn't run to 200 pages is that the authors do not include extensive lists giving the names and addresses of editors, printers, book designers, library suppliers, and so forth. Instead, they direct you to a web site, where the information can be updated on a day-to-day basis. In the digital age, that makes perfect sense.

One other useful aspect of modern printing technology is that relatively short runs of a book can be printed off, as and when needed. This means that the text of a printed book can now be amended, augmented, and generally improved, with far less trouble and expense than was possible only a few years ago. That's why U-Publish.com 4.0 is described as a `living book'. A copy bought six months from now will embody information which is not available today.

In terms of content, this book delivers what it offers: a summary of the key steps. It does not offer any dramatic secrets. Almost everything in it is well known to those who have been in the self-publishing business for, say, five or ten years. But such people have learnt the facts of life the hard way - often by spending, and wasting, lots of money.

This particular book is aimed at first-time authors - particularly authors of non-fiction books - and in my opinion it forms a good starting point for them. Sure, they will need to read other books, and do some more research, but U-Publish.com 4.0 gives them the basic facts and also provides guidance on where to go for more.

U-Publish.com 4.0 is not perfect. I would have liked some checklists - for example, what to do nine months before publication, then six months, and so forth. But you can work these things out for yourself, after reading the text, and it will do you no harm to do so.

In the last few years, tens of thousands of people have realised that the new technology means that they can at least publish their own book if mainstream publishers reject it (which they almost certainly will). Properly handled, such a project can benefit your career, and may even generate some income. But you must do your research, and the purchase price of this book is modest when compared with the sums of money that you can waste if you go wrong.

While information in book is topical and informative."Living Book" means you write 63 pages.? Then when I go to updates, the web site is just publishing company's advertising. Mr. Poynter is a wonderful author and authority, but this seems close to a rip off.
It would be better just to give us a list of web sites and let us do for ourselves instead of charging $11 for 63 pages.

Books about self-publishing that include web links; market strategies; lists for printers, designers, and other services; popular resources and more often find within only a few months, some of the leads have changed location, contact information, or even worse, closed completely--and it's exactly this kind of circumstance that calls for a resource such as Dan and Danny's new "Living Book."

By offering readers not only the necessary information to get them going in the right direction but also supplementing it with the most up-to-date resource data available via the web, they're providing both the new and established self-publishing author the means to readily compete in this ever-changing marketplace.

With this book, readers can learn about why they should self-publish, what to do before they start writing, how to think ahead, discover the difference between self- and vanity publishing, see the various printing methods, and be taken from manuscript to galley to book and beyond!

Just as with the previous editions, "U-Publish.com 4.0" is a valuable resource, yet the authors have topped themselves by making it more than just a book for with this newest edition they've revealed there can be much more "life" to self-publishing!