Written by July 22nd, 2015

7 Articles You Should Read Before Self Publishing

Self Publishing has been around since the dawn of writing. In the last century it has been mostly been frowned on. It was a field dominated by vanity presses that charged their authors a lot in order to be published. It was considered something that authors should do as a last resort. It was not taken seriously by most writers or by most publications aimed at writers.

That has started to change. Poets & Writers, the most established magazine for writers, regularly features self published authors. Many self published books have gone on to become best sellers and big news.

The current hype surrounding self publishing is a bit of a double edged sword. Just because anyone can do it, doesn’t mean everyone should. Just because so many are doing it now doesn’t mean that the odds of being successful have gone up.

There are many self published books that never sell a copy, the vast majority sell far under 100 copies. Even in terms of self published authors, most books that end up being successful are picked up and promoted by traditional publishers.

The following collection of articles should help you orientate yourself in the world of self publishing, they cover a range of topics, from what not to do, to how to study the success of others.

Below is a collection of our most helpful articles for those who are considering self publishing, or who have already self published but want to do so with more successful results.
1. The Hidden Dangers of Self Publishing
An essential read if you are just starting your self publishing journey.  Gives good advice on what not to do.

2. The Indie Publishing Revolution
An introduction and overview of how self publishing works today from the perspective of a self published author.

3. Self Publishing Versus Traditional Publishing: 5 Important Considerations
Five questions every writer should think about before self publishing. An essential read if you are on the fence about self publishing.

4. Five Things I Wish I knew Before I Published My Novel
An article every writer should read, before self publishing.

5. What to Consider before Self Publishing an E-book
Not sure if you want to self publish in print or just electronically? This article examines the pros and cons of the situation.

6. Under The Covers
Advice about cover art for self published authors.

7. The Misery and The Joy of Self Publishing
An experienced self published authors realistic evaluation of her self publishing experience.

 

We Send You Publishers Seeking Submissions.

Sign up for our free e-magazine and we will send you reviews of publishers seeking short stories, poetry, essays, and books.

Subscribe now and we'll send you a free copy of our book Submit, Publish, Repeat

Primera

Primera

Primera is a digital-first imprint of Oliver Heber Books. Oliver Herber Books was founded by the author Tanya Anne Crosby, and you can learn more about the publisher as a whole here. They are based in Michigan. In 2023 they started Primera, which is open to agented and direct submissions from authors. It was hard…

Search Press

Search Press

Search Press’s tagline is “the world’s finest art and craft books”. They specialize in “practical, reference and inspirational art and craft books for beginners through to professional artists and crafters”. Everything they publish is highly illustrated, They only focus on publishing nonfiction work that fits into these categories. You can get a feel for what…

Brick Cave Media

Brick Cave Media

They are a small Science Fiction and Fantasy focused press based out of Arizona. It was founded by Bob Nelson and J.A. Giunta. You can read their origin story here, but it essentially started out as a self-publishing operation, initially not even focused on books. In 2010 they published their first book. They have published…

53 Magazines Seeking Genre Fiction

53 Magazines Seeking Genre Fiction

Most literary journals are interested in literary work, by which they mean, not genre work (although this is changing a little). The definition of genre is a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. However, in the context of writing, genre can refer to…