Self-publishing your book
for free is the way to go!

A stigma languishes over self-publishing, but only in the minds of authors and book industry people. Readers rarely look to see who published a book. The stigma will fade in time; however, its existence is unfortunate. It is a hangover from vanity publishing, and there is a difference between vanity publishers and companies designed to assist self publishers. There are still rip-offs, but many companies charge reasonable fees for the work they do.

I prefer the new companies that allow you to publish for free, if you do the work yourself. The goal of this Website is to teach you how to do that work. In the process, you will gain an appreciation for the work companies that assist self publishers do, and you will realize, that it is wrong to refer to them as vanity publishers.

So, what will you need to learn to publish your book for free? You will need to learn about:

• Book Design
• Typography
• Page Layout
• Cover Design
• Editing
• eBooks
• Portable Document Format (PDF)
• Companies that assist self publishers
• Selling Books

Imagine the confidence you will have once you have mastered all these skills. Not only can you publish any book you write, you can also assist others either for fun or profit.

Publishing Technology

There are powerful economic forces pushing the publishing industry towards Print-On-Demand (POD) books. POD saves warehousing and distribution costs. It also eliminates the dreaded return of unsold books to publishers.

Add the pressure of an economic downturn and it's easy to see that most publishers big and small will be using print on demand. POD titles have increased 774% since 2002, and there were more POD books published in 2008 than traditional books. With the advent of the Expresso Book Machine, it appears that bookstores will eventually have their own POD book printers.

Electronic books (eBooks) will also put pressure on traditional book publishers. Google has indicated that they will challenge the Kindle with eBooks that can be read in browsers on or off line. And Sony has just released a wireless eBook reader to challenge the Kindle. Sony is going to use ePub, an open format.

Traditional publishers have already cut back on staff. That implies less editing, less marketing, and less time on design. More and more, authors are expected to help with the marketing.

There are still advantages to going with a traditional publisher; they still have formatting, editing, design, and marketing expertise.

However, the books of traditional publishers are beginning to look more and more like the books of self-publishers.

And, the books of self-publishers will improve as authors became more sophisticated. Remember the garish documents that appeared when we were first empowered by computer typesetting.

Get access to FREE book publishing tools, resources, and a growing online community of authors. Learn how.

Self-Publishing Options

Advantages

Disadvantages

Self Publishing Companies

Book Printing Costs - Important!

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