First-Hand Advice on Self-Publishing

The website cnet is not a site one normally visits for information on self-publishing books. Executive Editor David Carnoy’s column Fully Equipped: The Electronics You Lust For seems a most unlikely source.

But Carnoy wrote a novel, a medical/legal thriller titled Knife Music, which he self-published. In a recent column, Carnoy compiled the lessons he learned from the experience into Self-Publishing a Book: 25 Things You Need to Know.

Carnoy was interested in commercial distribution. As a consequence, many of his 25 things focus on promotion, marketing and sales. If you are thinking about selling your own book you will find his insights useful.

If, however, your goal is to create a self-published book for limited distribution to family and friends you can skip over those items and focus on the advice he offers on writing a book and preparing it for the printer. Here are some examples of Carnoy’s tips:

• “Have a clear goal for your book.” Clarity on the intended audience will both help you decide on the books content and make a good choice on who you should select to print it.
• “Buy as little as possible from your publishing company.” He explains that many subsidy publishers like Author House and Create Space make money not on the sale of author’s books but by selling authors packages of “publishing services.”  He says, "Personally I’d never work with Book Surge’s [his publisher’s, now part of Amazon's Create Space] in-house  editors, copy editors and in-house design people…it’s better to hire your own people and work directly with them.”
• “If you’re serious about your book, hire a book doctor [content editor] and get it copy edited.”

Whatever your plan for your self-published book David Carnoy’s column will help you make it a reality while avoiding some potentially expensive and frustrating pitfalls.

 Click here to read David Carnoy’s full column.