The Joy of Self-Publishing

Mike MD Buchanan

Description

Self-publishing can be more rewarding than being published - creatively, financially, and in other respects - if you go about it the right way. You could well be confused, as many self-publishers are, by the multiplicity of options available to you. The good news is that you can now make your books visible and available to book buyers around the world at minimal cost. An ebook (PDF) edition of this book was made available worldwide at no cost, an edition for the Kindle, iPad, Nook, Sony eReader and other e-readers made available for GBP95.00, a paperback edition made available worldwide for GBP42.00.

As a self-publisher, what are your options for new books? Should you choose an offset lithography print run, a digital print run, or maybe print-on-demand (POD)? Hardback or paperback, or other formats? Possibly an ebook too? And, crucially, how will you get your books distributed cost-effectively to buyers around the world? This book will take you through the options and explain their relative advantages and disadvantages. It provides guidance on selecting book topics with strong sales potential; writing distinctively; obtaining a professional critique of your work; writing content-rich non-fiction; writing in a number of genres; choosing between hardback and paperback and other formats; choosing the optimal printing method; book content formatting; book specifications; colour plate section options; distribution; print-on-demand ('POD'); order fulfilment; dealing with Amazon, Lightning Source, Nielsen, and Bowker; printers; copy-editors and proofreaders; typesetters; cover designers; photographers; pricing and marketing your books; and a whole lot more besides.

The book includes a sample chapter from the author's international bestseller Two Men in a Car (a businessman, a chauffeur, and their holidays in France) along with the plate section from the book.

Mike Buchanan, a British writer and former business consultant, is the author of eight books since 2008. He's been published internationally by a leading publisher (in English and Chinese editions), and he's self-published. He much prefers self-publishing for a variety of reasons. In January 2010, at the age of 52, he took early retirement and now writes and self-publishes full-time. He developed the model of 'commercial self-publishing' outlined in this book. The model has been designed to help self-publishers enjoy their writing more, increase their output of strong titles, and maximise their profits.

Sujets

• Artisanat
• Binding
• Crafts
• Hobbies
• Books printing

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781456604875
• Langue: English

Extrait

Reviews and testimonials for a number of the writer’s self-published books
The Joy of Self-Publishing
I’ve been publishing my own books for over 20 years, after having been published by more than a dozen of London’s leading publishers including Pan, Penguin, Corgi, Arrow etc. I’ve had books on both the Bookseller and Sunday Times bestseller lists. During the last two decades I’ve self-published scores of books and sold millions of copies around the world. I wish I’d had Mike Buchanan’s book The Joy of Self-Publishing when I started. It’s the best damned book on publishing in existence. It’s brilliant. I’m learning stuff from it every time I open it. Writers who try self-publishing without reading it first – and without keeping it on their desks as they go on – are giving themselves an extra handicap. And in the business of self-publishing we all start with enough handicaps.
Dr Vernon Coleman English author
The Marriage Delusion: the fraud of the rings?
A highly original and stimulating critique of the modern marriage crisis, supported by important yet sometimes uncomfortable truths.
Oliver James clinical psychologist, broadcaster, and author of Affluenza , Britain on the Couch , They F*** You Up , How Not to F*** Them Up
Mike Buchanan’s analysis of marriage in western industrialised society is courageous and thoughtful. His perspectives on the challenges associated with marriage, and solutions to them, draw on important scientific evidence and arguments from some of our leading psychologists and wisest philosophers. This is a ‘must-read’ for all concerned with modern marriage.
Alan Carr Professor of Clinical Psychology, University College, Dublin, and author of The Handbook of Adult Clinical Psychology , Family Therapy and Positive Psychology
Informative, amusing, and invaluable. This book offers great insights into the long-term pitfalls of an age-old tradition that so many people seem to naively drift into. Its objectivity provides a real wake-up call for those struggling with an unhappy relationship and a warning to those who’ve not yet taken their vows. This should be a compulsory read for anyone considering marriage – it could save you thousands in divorce lawyers’ fees!
Gary Williams English businessman
Two Men in a Car
(A Businessman, a Chauffeur, and Their Holidays in France)
A splendid romp. Vive la France!
Peter Mayle 1939- British author famous for his series of bestselling books documenting life in Provence, France, including A Year in Provence (1989)
Mike Buchanan is the best kind of opinionated, middle-aged, middle-class Englishman abroad: the funny kind.
Andrew Heslop English author and businessman
If you have a sense of humour, this book will put a big smile on your face. I laughed out loud many times. A refreshing absence of political correctness.
The lovely Maureen Padley
David and Goliatha:
David Cameron – heir to Harman?
At long last Mike Buchanan has courageously taken on the radical feminists. For too long this group has dominated the public policy agenda. Pay equality, gender balance in the boardroom, all-women shortlists have been given far too much prominence in public life. We needed the other side to be put and in his book Mike Buchanan does just this. His description of the Prime Minister having a female-pattern brain is an interesting aspect of David Cameron. Without being insulting it explains some of the current direction of Conservative policy.
The book calls for a fight back against the radical feminists. It deserves to succeed. Women had a long hard justifiable fight to obtain the vote in our democracy (see my book Our Fight for Democracy ) but now they have it, the radical feminists want special treatment. This is not acceptable, each person’s vote should have an equal value regardless of gender. Manipulating parliamentary candidate short lists to give preference to women is a distortion of democracy and anyone who believes in democracy should oppose it.
John Stafford Chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy
The Glass Ceiling Delusion:
the real reasons more women don’t reach senior positions
The Glass Ceiling Delusion is an important and brave book, the best book on social economics and society in general published for decades. It’s irresistibly compelling, cogently argued and superbly put together. It should be in all school and college libraries. It should be compulsory reading for social science, economics and politics students. It should be force-fed to male and female politicians. This is definitely a five-star book. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant.
Dr Vernon Coleman English author


 
 
 
The Joy of Self-Publishing
 


By Mike Buchanan
for LPS publishing
Feminism
(scheduled for publication November 2011)
The Glass Ceiling Delusion:
the real reasons more women don’t reach senior positions
David and Goliatha:
David Cameron – heir to Harman?
The Joy of Self-Publishing
Buchanan’s Dictionary of Quotations for right-minded people
Buchanan’s Dictionary of Quotations for right-minded Americans
The Marriage Delusion: the fraud of the rings?
The Fraud of the Rings
Two Men in a Car
(A Businessman, a Chauffeur, and Their Holidays in France)
Guitar Gods in Beds.
(Bedfordshire: a heavenly county)
for Kogan Page
Profitable Buying Strategies
(How to Cut Procurement Costs and Buy Your Way to Higher Profits)
 


 
 
 
The Joy of Self-Publishing
 
 
 
mike buchanan
lps publishing
 


publisher’s note
every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate and the self-publisher and the author cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions however caused. no responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by mike buchanan who is the self-publisher. nope. first published in great britain in august 2010 by lps publishing. this ebook edition made available after 1 september 2011
apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review as permitted under the copyright designs and patents act 1988 this publication may only be reproduced stored or transmitted in any form or by any means with the prior permission in writing of the publisher or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the cla. enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publisher at [e-mail]
lps publishing
8 putnoe heights
bedford mk41 8eb
united kingdom
lpspublishing.co.uk
n.b. this website is not always viewable
copyright: cover images and book content © mike buchanan 2010
the right of mike buchanan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the copyright designs and patents act 2008 apart obviously from the few passages he’s reproduced from other writers’ books
published in ebook format by ebookit.com
isbn: 978-1-4566-0487-5
british library cataloguing-in-publication data
this ebook edition was formatted and distributed worldwide by the clever chaps (and melissa) at ebookit.com
 


 
 
 
this book is dedicated with thanks to vernon coleman
an inspiration to self-publishers for over 20 years
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My first thanks must go to my readers, especially those who have taken the trouble to post reviews on Amazon’s websites. I’m sure I speak for many writers when I say that positive reviews – on Amazon and elsewhere – lift the spirits in a way that little else can.
My thanks to my beloved and beautiful daughters Sarah Mercedes and Kerry Portia for their tolerance of the time I devote to writing, and for telling me that my books are wonderful. Their objective criticism is always welcome.
My thanks to Dr Vernon Coleman, a fine English gentleman and a highly successful self-publisher, for his extensive and important body of work; for the effort and time he’s devoted to a number of important campaigns and causes; for inspiring self-publishers for over 20 years; and on a personal note, for penning testimonials for a number of my books which have given me great encouragement, particularly the one he wrote for The Glass Ceiling Delusion . Self-publishers who are disappointed at not being contracted to a commercial publisher should read the Mission Statement of The Publishing House, Vernon Coleman’s self-publishing concern, which I reproduce in the second half of chapter 1. They might then be heartened and proud to be self-publishers; they should be.
My thanks to friend, businessman and Yorkshire-based author Andrew Heslop for his feedback on a number of chapters, most notably the chapter on the financial aspects of the commercial self-publishing model. If he were not so successful as a business consultant he’d possibly write more books so we must hope – for our sakes, if not for his – that he runs out of work. I hope to publish his book of short stories one day. His story about football-playing nuns is a favourite.
My thanks to the highly talented freelance professionals without whom this book would not be what it is: Charlie Wilson, my proofreader/copy editress; Roger Day, my photographer; and John Rose of John Chandler Design Associates. My thanks to John Chandler and Doug Morris of Wordzworth, for their appendices. What’s that? No. I don’t mean they gave me body organs. Give me strength. The appendices in this book.
My thanks to the editors and publishers of the dictionaries of quotations I draw upon in this book, as well as those who run quotation websites. Thanks also to Wikipedia for most of the biographical details I’ve associated with those quotations.
My thanks to Bo Bennett and the other clever chaps (and Melissa) at eBookIt.com for formatting and distributing this ebook edition.
My thanks to you, dear reader, for b