The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Some Self-publishing Reality

by Anne Wayman on November 2nd, 2007

you’ve probably figured out, I’m more or less in favor of self-publishing books… as long as you have your own market.

For example, you can actually buy a printed copy of the free ebook I offer on Writing With Vision, Through the Labyrinth of Writing Your Book. Why do I offer it for sale? Well, I did it through Lulu.com as a test to see just how well their system works. I ordered one copy, which arrived, and I was pleased. I’ve made no effort to sell the printed version except through a pitch at the end of the ebook. Guess what? It’s only sold one copy – yep, the one I bought.

Which is exactly what I expected. You could put up the best book in the world (whatever that means) there or anywhere else, and without marketing, it wouldn’t sell.

The PODdy Mouth blog has a great article called: A great self-publishing article for authors. It’s great, because it outlines exactly what can go wrong, and much of it has to do with unrealistic expectations.

If you’re thinking about self-publishing, study this article. You’ll be glad you did.

Write well and often,

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POSTED IN: Book Writing, Editing, Pubishing & Marketing