How to Self-Publish & Market Your Own Book: A Simple Guide for Aspiring Writers

by Sara Freeman Smith and Mack E. Smith

Their book provides easy yet effective tools used in publishing and marketing successful books. The authors include their personal experiences in publishing their first book, Turning Stones Into Gems. Sara and Mack list many resources in the appendix. Their book explains how to: get free advertising, avoid common publishing mistakes, prepare a marketing plan, complete important registrations, select a book printer, and much more. Their book, How to Self-Publish and Market Your Own Book, includes sample forms, pricing information and budget worksheets. The book includes a special section of tips and resources for women and minority writers. It is a simple guide that every aspiring writer can understand.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966232887
• ISBN13: 9780966232882
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: U R Gems Group, Inc.
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Worth Your Money!!!!!

When I first purchased this book I figured it was gonna be a waste of my time, but as soon as I began reading I was immediately relieved I had purchased it,some of the first information that was listed was about to save me from being embarrassed. I wanted to publish on my own since I had not made any real money on the first two books I had published without being involved in some of the choices made, so I decided I was going at it alone, and I thought since I had been published before I knew enough to go at it full force ( GONG!) boy was I wrong. If your gonna do it and want a place to start try this book it really is full of important information especially if you think you know enough, don't feel embarrassed to read it, it's got important facts that if you don't know and use you'll be embarrassed later for sure.

My Pick for Aspiring Writers

If you have no idea where to begin after your book is published, then this is a simple guide to use. Contains information on publicity, online marketing, book signings, conducting your own seminars, appearing as an expert even if you aren't.

A must read for aspiring writers who will self publish.

This book contains a vast wealth of crucial information for the self publisher. Mack and Sara have done an excellent job of outlining the steps and providing additional reference information. A few of the the topics covered are the publishing industry, starting a business, ISBN & copyright info, book cover designs, publicity campaign, media release, budget, advice, tools of the trade and literary organizations.Mack and Sara conduct regular free workshops at local Houston bookstores. I highly recommend this book for all aspiring literary entrepreneurs. Add it to your resource library prior to embarking on the publishing journey and it will help you avoid mistakes. If you have already begun the journey, it is still a must read for future references.I am speaking from experience. I am included in the large number of self published literary entrepreneurs. This book provided me with expert advice, motivation and encouragement.

How to Self-Publish and Market Your Own Book

We loved Sara and Mack's book. We are now in the final stages of preparing our first book for publication. We purchased this book and then met with Sara and Mack to discuss our ideas before we started on this project. We have both read and used Sara and Mack's book so much that the pages are beginning to fall out. We will definitely buy another copy for future reference. With the help of this book, we believe our goal of writing and self-publishing is about to come true! The book is well organized and thoughtfully presented. All the questions we had are covered at length throughout the book. To begin the process of writing and self-publishing without first reading this book is definitely a mistake. Take the time to read through the book and then refer to it frequently and you will save yourself a lot of time and unnecessary mistakes.After reading the book and meeting with Sara and Mack, we were definitely motivated and excited to begin our project. It's been a great learning experience and lots of fun!

But I thought the Publisher would do that

Whether you sell out to a large (New York) publisher or publish yourself, the author must do the promotion. Publishers only produce books and place them in stores. Authors must generate interest to encourage people to go into the stores to pull the books through the system. Getting published is like giving birth. Along with the joy of being published, you now have the responsibility of raising your new family member. Fortunately, your book is not a 20-year commitment and you do not have to send it to college. :) But, your book will not raise itself.Mack and Sara use their personal experiences to simplify the process of publishing and marketing your own book. They not only provide easy-to-understand guidelines, they also motivate aspiring writers to overcome obstacles on their journey to successful publication. And they do it well.As a publisher and an author of 114 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles, I recommend this book to both authors and publishers.