Peter E. Upton
Having only written one book which I have self published because I have never succeeded in getting a publication house interested I would say only do this if you are really driven to writing.
On a practical level make sure your book fits neatly into a category which my book doesn't and was one of the reasons my initial publisher pulled out it was also a repeat factor in most of the rejection letters I received. It appears that the middlemen who buy from the publishers and sell to the bookstores will not touch books that don't fit neatly into a category.
If you are going to self publish I would suggest you avoid all the mistakes I made by going to CreateSpace who will publish your paperback book for free, give it an ISBN for free, sell it through Amazon, collect the money from the buyer and post the book off for you. They will also offer at the end of the publication process to turn it into an ebook at amazon kindle for you and then deposit your earnings electronically into your account. OK they will take a cut of your money but they will also save you an awful amount of administrative work and in my case about £900 in printing costs and ISBN for just 100 books.
On a practical level make sure your book fits neatly into a category which my book doesn't and was one of the reasons my initial publisher pulled out it was also a repeat factor in most of the rejection letters I received. It appears that the middlemen who buy from the publishers and sell to the bookstores will not touch books that don't fit neatly into a category.
If you are going to self publish I would suggest you avoid all the mistakes I made by going to CreateSpace who will publish your paperback book for free, give it an ISBN for free, sell it through Amazon, collect the money from the buyer and post the book off for you. They will also offer at the end of the publication process to turn it into an ebook at amazon kindle for you and then deposit your earnings electronically into your account. OK they will take a cut of your money but they will also save you an awful amount of administrative work and in my case about £900 in printing costs and ISBN for just 100 books.
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