Have you self-published a book? Share your resources!

1. 74

   frugalfamilyposted 13 years ago

   Have you self-published a book? Share your resources!
   
   I have three books ripe for printing.  They need to edited and properly formatted.  I thought it would be easy to find someone on Odesk or Elance to get that done.  I'm super disappointed.  I have bids coming in with broken English wanted $500!  I almost hired another freelance writer until I looked at her published book.  It had several typographical errors in the preview.  If you've got an inexpensive editor or other resource, please please tell me who it is.  Or if you want an $50 let me know!

   replyreport
2. 91

   suzettenaplesposted 13 years ago

   I have not self-published a book, but I have self-published some short stories, separately.  I self-published on Authorstand.com.  If you go to their help section, I think it will tell you the process.  That is the only place I know to self-publish for no fee.  Contact freelanced.com and you can submit your job and for very little money you can have someone from there help you to self-publish your book.  You can look at writer's profiles and contact any one on the web-site you think can help you.

   replyreport
3. 66

   Allen Williamsposted 13 years ago

   I self published my book People of the Same Sun (http://www.PeopleOfTheSameSun.com) at LuLu.com.  LuLu doesn't charge anything to self publish since it is print on demand.  They get paid when the book is printed from each order.  They do offer some services on their site where you can get assistance  with editing but I do not know the fees.  I did my own editing along with several family members and Microsoft Word.  You might want to check out LuLu to see what they offer.

   replyreport
4. 78

   BizGenGirlposted 13 years ago

   I'm on odesk, though I'm newer to it than other sites. Feel free to send me a proposal. I'll get your editing taken care of for $50 for each book. We can do one, and you can review it before you pay. That way if you aren't satisfied with my editing skills, you can easily let me know and look else where. Though I can assure you, you won't be unhappy with my editing skills. Then maybe later we can collab on some ebooks.
   
   My odesk profile is here https://www.odesk.com/d/view_profile.php
   
   Or you can just message me here on hubpages. Just mind that I have a lot of sites I write for, among my own projects, so it might be a couple of days before I respond to your proposal/message.

   replyreport
5. 61

   Dave Mathewsposted 13 years ago

   I've never heard of "Self-Publishing" your own book. How do you get it printed, bound and in the stores without a publishing company doing that work.

   replyreport
6. 60

   gposchmanposted 10 years ago

   A number of years ago I self published a political satire comic book.  It is still available today on LULU.  Recently I self published the first book in a mystery series - Jonas Watcher: The case of the Running Bag.  I Used Createspace and was able to create both a paperback and an eBook.  I also used smashwords.  I used both sites because Creatspace is a subsidiary of amazon and I wanted to have my eBook on other sites.  Smashwords puts out eBooks to a number of online sites in most eBook formats.  There are pros and cons to this decision.
   
   As for distribution of the paperback outside of amazon, that is up to me.  Publishing is easy, getting the book out in front of others is what takes time and energy, and some money.  There are a lot of legitimate sites out there to help but be careful.
   
   I recommend that you read JA Konrath's blog on newbie publishing, just search on his name.  He started writing and got his first book published in 2005, at least that is when he started his blog.  You get an unvarnished view of what it takes to be a successful published author and how the publishing business has evolved.
   
   I hope this helps
   Gene Poschman author of the Jonas Watcher Mystery series

   replyreport