How much does it cost to self-publish a book?
How much does it cost to self-publish a book? This seems like a simple enough question but there is no simple answer. There are three basic types of self-publishers. I’ll call them the casual hobbyist, the serious hobbyist and the professional. Before I can answer “How much?” you need to determine which type fits you best.
Today I am going concentrate on the casual hobbyist type of self-publisher. This category probably covers the majority of all the authors currently considering self-publishing their first book. This group covers a broad range of both subject matter and personal author profiles. As a member of this group you have written a story of some sort or the other, and a friend or family member, most likely, has talked you into considering turning this story into a book. Maybe your story is an autobiography. Maybe it’s a collection of poems or short stories or your political views. Maybe it’s the memoirs of your days in the War or in the Peace Corp or your days as a hippie, an Anarchist or … whatever. Maybe it’s even a children’s story. No matter what the subject matter is, the primary audience for this book is your immediate family and friends.
As a casual hobbyist, you probably do not have any formal writing experience. You are most likely over fifty with your kids pretty much off on their own. If you aren’t already retired, you are probably getting close, at least mentally if not physically. Chances are you have been telling your story, in parts, to your family or buddies at the bar over the course of years, embellishing it as time goes on. Maybe you even listened to President Bill Clinton when he said that anyone over fifty owed it to their family to write down their life experiences (and publish it as a book).
As a casual hobbyist you do not want to invest a lot of time or money in bringing this manuscript to publication. You may have a passing thought about getting a call from Oprah or Dr. Phil, to discuss your book, but know that your main motivation is much more personal. In the end, if see your name in print and receive a bit of praise from family and friends you have met your goal.
Chances are, if you are the casual hobbyist, you may not even be reading newsletters like the Publishing Basics Newsletter because you don’t really care about publishing as a business. You are happy to give your money to the first company that makes it look easy and doesn’t charge “too much”. It’s just a hobby, and a casual one at that. If you are not the one reading this, perhaps your son or daughter or friend, is in an effort to keep you from being taken advantage of, by any of the “too good to be true” advertising of companies who prey on the casual hobbyist. Unfortunately, the Internet is full of these places.
The one thing that the casual hobbyist rarely realizes is that they are only a phone call or experience away from becoming a serious hobbyist or even a professional. This is why it is important to follow a few basic tips no matter how serious you are about publishing when you initially enter the market.
The primary rule is to never grant a company exclusive rights to your book for any amount of time to unless that company is paying you an awful lot of money. One of the slimier publishers claim to be a traditional publisher because they pay the author a one dollar advance royalty. For this one dollar, the author signs over the rights to their book for seven years. This might be fine if your book never goes beyond the dozen copies you buy to hand out to your friends but there is no reason to do it. Remember, your self-publishing status can change at a moments notice.
The other basic rule, which runs along the same line as the first is, you want to make sure that you own everything used to produce your book. What I am talking about here is the ownership of the digital files used to print your book. Again, it doesn’t matter who owns your printing file if you are only printing a few books but things change and you want to be able to react to these changes.
Once you have established that you are not giving up any rights to your book and you own the digital files used to print the books (or at least know what owning the files will cost), you can start to shop and compare pricing for the actual production of your book.
The casual hobbyist self publisher does not really need an ISBN. At this stage, this book is going no where near a bookstore, where an ISBN is required. Your primary market is your family and friends. An ISBN is not necessary to hand out books to your buddies at the VFW or your friends in your sewing circle. Having an ISBN is only necessary if you plan to sell your book in bookstores, including Amazon. You can always buy ISBN’s later, should you become more serious about your publishing but, for now, save your money.
To the casual hobbyist, hiring an editor is a luxury. Your family and friends are going to love your book, just the way you’ve written it. Between the spell checker in MS Word, a few re-reads and possibly your 10th grade English teacher, you’ll be fine. This, of course, changes if you shift from casual hobbyist to serious hobbyist or professional but it’s something that is easy enough to go back and do later.
The casual hobbyist most likely has the ability to do an acceptable job laying out the text in MS Word. The trick is to set up the page size correctly. The easiest way to accomplish this is to download a free text template from www.selfpublishing.com. Look at a few books in your library to get an idea of what your text should look like. The free template is already set up with page numbers and page headers. All you need to do is “select all”, “copy” and “paste” your word document into the template and move the type around until it looks right. Remember, the first page should be a title page and the second should be your copyright page. Copyright can be as simple as “copyright, your name, year or copyright © your name and year. You can find the symbol © by going to the Insert dropdown in word, select “symbol” and “insert” the correct symbol. If you want to get fancy, you can copy the whole paragraph of legalese printed on the copyright page of most books, but it’s not necessary. You’re covered. The rest of your text should pretty much flow. Try to stay away from using too many typefaces. Just because MS Word has 100 typefaces available, it doesn’t mean you have to use them all.
Up to this point, the casual hobbyist self-publisher hasn’t spent a nickel. The first money that will most likely need to be spent is in converting your MS word text into PDF format and designing and laying out a book cover. The converting to PDF is easy if you have the software. Laying out the cover in MS word and converting to PDF is much more difficult and probably not worth the time it would take the casual hobbyist to learn how to do it. Having a nice looking cover is important, even to the casual hobbyist. People do judge a book by its cover… even family and friends. There is no reason to spend a fortune on a high end graphic designer although you do need to spend a couple bucks to get this part done correctly.
SelfPublishing.com has a program they call their “Hybrid Design” program. This program takes the author’s supplied, laid out word document and converts it to a press ready PDF file. The author then has a choice of 30 or so basic cover designs as well as thousands of cover pictures and illustrations to choose from. The final cover will be assembled and converted to a print ready PDF by a qualified designer. The cost is only $149, as long as the author prints with SelfPublishing.com or $199 if the author wants to print with someone else. Remember when I said you want to own the digital printing file? For $199 you own the file with no strings attached. Most of the POD publishers, like Iuniverse, Author House and Xlibris have starter programs which include basic layout but their prices are higher and you do not own the digital printing file when you are done.
Now that you have a digital file ready for printing, you need to find a printer. This again is pretty easy. There are only two choices that I will mention in this article because they are clearly the best two choices. If you are truly only going to print 5-10 copies, I would use Lulu.com. There is no setup cost with Lulu. All you need to do is supply a print ready PDF file, which we just talked about above. The cost per copy is fairly high but the total number of dollars needed for a small quantity is quite low. If you think your circle of friends may extend beyond that and you think you might want to print 100 or 200 copies, selfpublishing.com would be a more cost effective alternative. With either of these services you are not tied down with any exclusives. You can always start with Lulu, buying a few copies, and do a larger press run with SelfPublishing.com later on. Or, the other way around, you can print 100 or so with selfpublishing.com and order a couple at a time, as needed, after your original printing runs out from Lulu.com. One way or the other, your total investment in prepress and printing is minimal… under $1000 for 100 copies.
The total number of dollars needed to be spent on sales and marketing for the casual hobbyist is the cost a few phone calls to friends and perhaps a little postage. These costs will be more than recovered with the free beers your friends buy you after seeing your book. When you are done, you will be the proud owner of a nice, professional looking book. Depending on whether you buy 10 or 100, you will have presents for at least the next holiday or two. Once you run out of friends, you will always have your book close by in case you run into a stranger who shows an interest. Who knows, maybe you’ll be stuck in an airport delay one day and be sitting next to Oprah and she will take an interest in you and your book. Stranger things have happened. Like I said earlier, if you set yourself up correctly in the beginning and you didn’t sign away any of your rights and own your printing file you can shift from Casual Hobbyist to Serious Hobbyist or even Self-Publishing Professional, in a hurry. Next month we’ll talk about the self-publishing costs involved for the serious hobbyist type of self-publisher.
Last 5 posts by Ron Pramschufer
- What do you think about Amazon’s announcement that small publishers need to print with their printer in order to be listed on Amazon? - April 17th, 2008
- What are the steps are involved in Self-Publishing a book? - March 24th, 2008
- Do you know any good book printers? - February 11th, 2008
- What do you think of Facebook as a marketing tool for self-published books? - December 5th, 2007
- Did you change your mind about authors buying a single ISBN? - October 22nd, 2007
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January 3rd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Loved the article….helped me alot to understanding what to do next.
January 4th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Excellent outline of the process.
January 4th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Thank you.
January 4th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
What do I do if I want to self-publish a children\’s picture book?
I\’ll hit on that in the next article. It\’s hard to be a casual hobbyist children\’s book publisher because the costs are so much higher, even for the minimums.
January 4th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
I think its providence that of all the DIY and vanity publishers out there today, my first web hit was selfpublishing.com. Ive learned a lot already from your site, am not quite ready to submit, but will do so with a sense of trust when I do. Thank you Ron.
January 4th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I have been reviewing your book, “Publishing Basics.” It is enlightening to say the least, especially for an author who has never been published. I look forward to disecting your article and include further comments, as I am very serious of publishing my books already written. I will ask about the financial cost to self-publish at a later time. I can’t help but mention that I spoke to an author who was published by a company promising to publish her children’s Christian art book for a specific amount of money. This author informed me that it cost her three times the initial investment of $899.00. Her total cost was $3,000.00 and she only received 5 free books, and made very little otherwise. This is truly a company out to prey on naive unpublished authors. Thank you for your article. Much success, and we will be talking further down the road. Feel free to email me. God bless you.
Yours truly,
Godspoet.
January 5th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Good stuff. Myself, from a PRINTING company I got a quote for printing and delivery of 1000 books, period. Less than two grand! Aside from SelfPublishing.Com, I intend to steer clear of any company that markets, etc. Believe me, with the power of the internet and friends you already know, you can do it all yourself. Look at it like this: The more you do, the more you control and the more you make. Realize that even the bigshots only get a tiny percent of each book sold the conventional way. I think that this is why the conventional industry wants to poo-poo self-publishing and to intimidate us. There are no secrets that they know that you cannot. Produce works from the heart - especially ones that fill a niche. Don’t let someone EDIT your vision into the typical blather. DO work on your grammar and spelling. Send out some freebies and get that website up. You don’t need THEM!
January 5th, 2007 at 7:24 am
The publishing field has been rapidly evolving over the last many years. Practices and premises that were taken for granted in the past no longer obtain. For one thing, when it comes to self-publishing it is a dark horse that is quickly darting forward, becoming neck and neck with traditional publishing, which itself has changed considerably and not always for the better. In the near future self-publishing is likely to surge ahead to become the champion at the head of the pack. for those interested in the publishing world, there is no one more qualified than Ron Pramschufer to unravel the complexities of the contemporary publishing world and to clarify the intricacies of self-publishing, in particular. He has already surged ahead of the pack.
January 5th, 2007 at 8:19 am
A big help to someone like me who is just starting down this path.
January 5th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I\’m about to put a pdf file of my children\’s picture book on the yahoo web store and e bay. This will alow people to downlad and or print a copy. Can you tell me the do\’s and don\’t s and what to look out for.
The answer is a bit longer than I have space for here. If you are trying to sell a PDF that you think people will buy and download and print out a copy on their printer, you are climbing Mt Everest. If you are giving away the PDF to encourage people to come to your site and purchase the printed edition, that\’s a good form of marketing. Case in point, you can go to http://www.selfpublishing.com and download a free e-copy of Publishing Basics and Publishing Basics for Children\’s Books. The ebook is advertising the printed book. If you are somewhere in between, you might want to read a few more of the children\’s book articles which have been printed in the newsletter.
Ron
January 5th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Thaks for \”netting it out\”!. Great stuff. I have never written a book before. I have decided to write and publish my own \”How to…\” books. My wesite will be complete in about two weeks. I have absolutelly no e-commerce experience at all. I am 67 years old. I plan to write, \”publish, print and distribute my books, booklets myself, from my 15\’ X 20\’ home hoffice with a souther exposure here in Emerald Isle, NC.
You have helped me immensely! Like Don Quiote de la Manch, Knight Errant of the sad countenacne, I am charging forth. The Internet is the GREAT LEVELER! i can succeed or fail, almost totally due to my abilities (or lack of them)….al l on my own. I will have my website, my po box number, biz telephone behind my chair, PayPal MC/Visa link and a recoreded message on my phone that touts my prime book. Thank you.!
Stay tuned next month when I talk about the \”Serious Hobbyist\”. Sounds like you are either going to fall in there or as a \”Pro\” self-publisher.
Ron
January 5th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Since I posted my comment (it was just after midnight last night when when I went in to check my email and voila\’ there was your email (no place to hide today) - how did you find me?). - I have since read your \’stuff……and it is great stuff. You may have already saved me some money and angst. I have ust retired and I havn\’t been as excited by any idea as I have become, in the last six months, about self-publishing. I thought I had my priniting avenuealready laid out (POD) locally -however after reviewing your Q & A (compelling) argument. - I may come to you for a quote, I am a control freak (weakness No. 1 ?). Your prices are interesting. I will send you a quote for one of my \’typicals\’. I hhave digital PDF photo files of my realatively modest covers (HOw to….books).
I must say, I have the strong impression that I can desingn and print my books to a level of quality POD) that will meet the \”expected content-information providing\” expectations of my very nawrrow audience niche. I will be doing regional advertising to drive people to my site - NOT depending on folds \”stumbling\” upon me due to keywords, meta-tags, et al. It is my summary premise that I can, after three months, get nto a formula and groove that works. However -
it does now appear, that you can print at a very competitve cost to what I have laid out.
I loved your desertation on book binding - totally engrossing - seriously - held my attention almost to the degree that Playboy issue No 1 had for me back in 1956 - almost. I once owned one of the first quick print shops in theWashington DC area. Multiliths, AB Dick priesses - quick copy in the pioneer days. Federal Homeland security projects has been my field for the last 25 years. Retired from all that now. Writer? Printer? Publisher? Scary thought. You have a great website and your writing and information is very compelling. Congratulations. Ken.
Thanks.
January 5th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I\’ve used Word Perfect for years, and have my book in that program. You mentioned Microsoft Word — will I have to retype my work in that program? I have both word processing programs on my computer, but it seems like a lot of work. My latest edition of Word Perfect gives the option of opening a document in Microsoft Word mode. Will this be the same as having it typed originally in the MS Word program?
No problem with Word Perfect. It\’s easily converted to ms word
January 5th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Ron is fantastic and I highly endorse his services. I have been published by major houses and am a New York Times best selling author. The clients I coach who have self-published and marketed themselves effectively have earned more money.
Thanks Ron for continuing to educate and inspire beginners, novices, and pros. You are the BEST. It’s important to know we all have a professional friend in the publishing business.
To everyone reading this, may you write, publish, and enjoy success in 2007.
Be the stars you already are! Blessings, Cynthia Brian
http://www.star-style.com
January 6th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
My manuscript sat in a publisher’s inbasket for over year before they decided that my book did “not fit their genre”. By then it was too late to find another publisher if I hoped to get the book in print for the Province of Sasatchewan Centennial year. (Yes, the genre was biographical local history.) My only opyion was to try self-publishing and after many squables between MS Word and Amigo Pro- we got a fairly decent prnt ready copy and my little self-publishing company, Amyot Lake Publishing mnaged to sell about 700 copies so far, and “Maskikhiwino, the Medicine Man” was nominated for best non-fiction by the Saskatchewan Book Awards. (Did not win but we are still glowing and selling because of the nomination.) I guess that amount of success takes us ou of the hobbyist categories. I wish I had read yur information as I might have achieved a more professional end product. But here’s the thing. We have made better than 50% profit on our investment and, best of all, I did it my way. I have two more books underway and you can bet they will be self-published. Keep your advice flowing and encourage your subscribers to get out from under the vaccillaton of the established publishers. Many thanks, Gerry Lavoie, Amyot Lake SK. S0M 0G0.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
My manuscript sat in a publisher\’s inbasket for over year before they decided that my book did \”not fit their genre\”. By then it was too late to find another publisher if I hoped to get the book in print for the Province of Sasatchewan Centennial year. (Yes, the genre was biographical local history.) My only option was to try self-publishing and after many squables between MS Word and Amigo Pro- we got a fairly decent print ready copy and my little self-publishing company, Amyot Lake Publishing, managed to sell about 700 copies so far, and \”Maskikhiwino, the Medicine Man\” was nominated for best non-fiction by the Saskatchewan Book Awards. (Did not win but we are still glowing and selling because of the nomination.) I guess that amount of success takes us out of the hobbyist categories. I wish I had read your information as I might have achieved a more professional end product. But here\’s the thing. We have made better than 50% profit on our investment and, best of all, I did it my way. I have two more books underway and you can bet they will be self-published. Keep your advice flowing and encourage your subscribers to get out from under the vaccillaton of the established publishers. Many thanks, Gerry Lavoie, Amyot Lake SK. S0M 0G0.
Congratulations. Sounds like you have done well. Let me know, next month, what you think of my \”serious hobbyist\” description.
Ron
January 8th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
It\’s nice to see Lulu mentioned here, especially since I recall some rather strange calculations a while back that made it look as if they (a free company) were a very expensive proposition.
I do have to quibble a little though with the idea that they\’re only good if you\’re selling a minimal number of copies. The other variable is whether you intend to sell hard copies yourself or don\’t care how people get them. With a minimal investment (and that more than I needed to make), I have made hundreds of dollars from Lulu, primarily by on-line sales. All my \’marketing\’ is through my Web site and the help of search engines.
No doubt were I a self-promoter, I could do better with some more initiative. But Lulu allowed me to actually make money without concerning myself overly much with the business side of things. The only reason I would pre-purchase hard copies at present is to give them away.
The article you are referring to was posted a few months ago. Lulu is fine for a few copies at a time. Once you hit 100 or more copies, there are less expensive alternatives. If you get to 500 - 1000 copies, any offset printer would be significantly less expensive. This plays out in the fact that Lulu\’s average press run is under 2 copies per order.
Ron
January 9th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Dear Ron,
I would like to know where I can publish a book,
I have been searching but i can not find any thing about it.
If you have the time please send me a suggestion
Before you really get off on the wrong foot, you should email me your mailing address to ron@rjcom.com and I will send you a free copy of Publihsing Basics- A Guide for the Small Press and Independent Self-Publisher.
Ron
January 12th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
I will be ready to publish my manuscript “Joe America” in February or March 2997. This short story has all the indgredients
to become a classic and to go on and become a motion picture or
animated motion picture. The story is right out of Frank Capra’s
style, with his classical “populist” themes. This story will captivate both children and adults. Looking forward to working with you soon. Thank you and Happy New Year!
Boston Ben Haith
January 13th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Great article Ron. I found it very interesting be it that I learned to make sure I own my digital files. I didn’t know about that trick. lol! I can’t wait for your next article about pro self publishing and so on. Also, great resources on your site and lots of wonderful tips. You feel like you’re supported by your team instead of being tricked and laughed at for going it alone. I felt like your article hit home for me because, yeah why wouldn’t an author want all their rights. I truly believe that more people should self publish. It will make the big giants take not that writing is a REAL career and not everything comes for free. Even the famous writers still hand over a lump some of their profits to these giants and in a way they maybe didn’t have to.
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Hi Ron,
My name is Pam. I\’m assisting my daughter with a school project (creating a book or magazine). I would like to know if you had any suggestions about putting either of the two together ourselves. I need help with where to start (should we get a special software or printer, etc)?
Any information you could forward would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Pamela Braxton
Pam,
Magazines might be a bit tricky due to expense. You can put together a book pretty cost effectively. You might want to visit http://www.selfpublishing.com and, in the design department, click on \”Do-it-Yourself\”. If you can get your basic text laid out buying copies of the final book is easy.
Ron
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Thanks for the article. I have been editing my finished parenting book for years, and your article has blown my reasons for not publishing out of the water. I’ve learned that there’s a lot to do, but I do appreciate how your site offers step-by-step suggestions to a serious novice. Please keep it affordable, because this IS MY YEAR!
January 31st, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Note: URL is currently reserved. Page will come up in a couple of weeks. Your article is very informative thanks! I am in the middle of a self-publishing exercise with an excellent publisher right now and your comments fit perfectly.
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:20 pm
this is the real things that need to be looked at the turth in its bare form many thanks kind regrds jason cook authour of “theres no room for jugglers in my circus” Its on http://www.amazon.co.uk
February 3rd, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Always enjoy your articles! I’ve just published my sixth book, Bloodroot. It was with a POD company, of whom I have had a great experience. My first two books were with a traditional company but he past four have been self-published. You are very informative with your articles.
I have been informed that my recent book, Bloodroot, will make it into a select Barnes and Noble store this spring! Any suggestions as to how to increase sales for this trial run?
Again, thanks for another informative article!
Larry Arrowood
Thanks!
February 12th, 2007 at 10:00 am
wow thanks alot but is there another way where you dont need to spend any money at all? because i only make £5 a week. thats like $2-3 or something.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
This helps me out alot. Thanks.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Dear Ron,
This is a great article I would like to subscribe to your monthly newsletter.
Thank you
Corlis
March 18th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
This is the most up front, practical, and honest advice I have seen yet on getting published. You helped to cut through all the silly or mundane red tape. Excellent! Can’t wait to get going.
Smiling,
Jerri
March 26th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I need a grant to publish my book on Christian living so send me info. to do so.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:15 am
I was wondering how much money an authour makes if they publish a best seller through a publishing house. Do they get like a dollar per book or do they get a flat fee. How does it work. Do the big authours make good money?
Cheers
Claire
April 8th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Dear Ron,
I’m writing a child’s book and this info. is most helpful. I’ve subscribed to your free newsletter and appreciate it greatly. Look forward to working with you and have a great evening.
Yours sincerly,
Delores Tulloss
May 5th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I\’ve written a simple book for my daughter and only want one book published for her. how can i get only one copy published or just professionally bound with a hard cover, etc.
thank you
fran
Hi,
I would try Lulu for a single copy.
Ron
May 10th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I really enjoyed reading this. I was having concerned because I need to publish but funds are limited. So I think I am going to start small and increase as demand commands.
Thanks again, Daisy
May 30th, 2007 at 5:13 am
I wanted to publish a book all the time but it’s just I’m still young. I want to help my family as my family suffers from financial problems. Please, someone give me some ideas.
May 30th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Are you offering a newletter, on E-mails, or send out mail? Or how do we find out out how much it cost to publish ones own material, etc. Thank you
Charlotte Schreffler
June 21st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Hello!
The whole point of writing books is to get them off the shelves and into the hands of readers, a sometimes daunting task for the self-published writer. Commercial publishers sometimes can count on newspapers, magazines and online publications to offer reviews, but these are avenues rarely open to the self publisher, no matter the quality of the book. The Book Snob will provide profiles, news and reviews from the world of self publishing, hoping to correct that inequity.
But before I can launch my site, I need something to review. That’s where you come in. I believe you or someone you know are self published authors who would like the benefit of being reviewed or profiled.
Here are the rules:
1. Self-published items must be at least novella length, more than 20,000 words.
2. Books and novellas may be fiction or non-fiction. I will not review poetry or erotica.
3. Review items must have been published within the past year.
4. Books will be reviewed fairly but honestly. If you can’t handle the criticism, don’t send the book. Sending your book to me is your agreement that you will accept the publication of the verdict.
When submitting your book, please, include the following: your name, address, phone number, email address, book length and genre. If you have a great story to tell about your publishing experience, send that along, too. I likely will not be able to review every book I receive, but I will try my best.
Mail submissions to:
The Book Snob
P.O. Box 369
Brownsburg, IN 46112
The Book Snob is a professional reviewer and self-published author with more than 20 years’ experience major metropolitan newspapers and national publications.
July 17th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I have been writing since I was 12, now I’m 46, in recent years I have put all my energy into my poetry, which I get good reviews on, I have my poetry on a poetry page online, but have not attempted to publish a poetry book, I have several short stories I have written over the years, but my style of writing is in first person, and I’ve always heard that it has to be written in third person, I would love to publish one of my stories, but I would love to write it the way I want to and not how someone else wants it to be done, my goal is to become a professional author, and write at least one or two major novels in my life time.
July 17th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
I have been writing since I was 12, now I’m 46, in recent years I have put all my energy into my poetry, which I get good reviews on, I have my poetry on a poetry page online, but have not attempted to publish a poetry book, I have several short stories I have written over the years, but my style of writing is in first person, and I’ve always heard that it has to be written in third person, I would love to publish one of my stories, but I would love to write it the way I want to and not how someone else wants it to be done, my goal is to become a professional author, and write at least one or two major novels in my life time.
July 31st, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Thanks for the help I’m half way through a book at the moment, its about 200 pages long, and when I’m finished it should be about 400. I’m only 12 and a half and I want to be the younest author to make it onto the New Zealnd top 100! Its a big dream, but it can be done thanks for your help!!!!
August 16th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Very informative and apt for first timers. Any information about how to copyright it before sending ones’ work to the publishers for their consideration?
September 4th, 2007 at 1:15 am
i just wanted to put toghter a book on pro wrestler nick dinsmore, also known as former wwe star eugenue and doink the clown, and have no idea how to do this, and i dont have $100 a month for this, but this is a dream i need help with but doubt i will get any help & my friends think i cant do this or its bad idea
September 19th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Ron,
This answered most of my questions and concerns. Plus, now I know what to call myself - the casual hobbyist! I’m excited to finish what I started.
Thank you for your honest information.
November 10th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Yourarticle told me exactly what I needed to know and then some.
The tips on what and what not to do helped me to realize what I have to cut out and what I have to keep. I’ld like to read an article
about “The10 Best Tips For Writing Best Sellers”.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:47 am
I need to know howto publish my book but type i at home and just get help with the layout ahd the text an the distribution of the material and perhaps you have some advice for me as to where to start this process. I have my entire lifes history on paper and several stories that are worthy of reading and some poetry enogh to at least make a 200 page book as well as originalo artowrk to go with the books that I have written. I am eager to get started. thank you for havin such a cool way to display my lifes work
thank you sincerely,
Jody
January 8th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Dear Ron,
I have never been published but have written numerous children\’s poems (on the Shel Silverstein type). I want to put them all together in one book. Would the same helpful information in the article above apply? I wanted to know - if everything is the way I want it on my end, would a place like SelfPublish.com take it from there and work with it to print the 100 or so copies that you were speaking of?
Thanks for any help!
Jill
Jill,
SelfPublishing.com would be perfect for you
Ron P
January 25th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I have been offered a contract to publish my book. I need to apply for a grant to fund this project but I have no clue where to start. Can you help?