There are a number of sites like that. Among the most popular ones are Amazon.com’s CreateSpace and Lulu.com. You can find a list of print on demand printers and publishers at http://www.bookmarket.com/ondemand.htm. Some of these offer free services; others charge a setup fee. These are ones I cover in Parts 3 and 4 of this series. Although they are often called self-publishing companies, many of these are actually what I call subsidy or vanity publishers because the author does not have complete control. That isn’t necessariy bad; read Parts 6 and 7 of this series to evaluate which type of publishing is best for you.

Few self-published authors sell books through retail stores, as brick-and-mortar bookstores generally don’t carry independently published books. Sometimes a few local stores will carry an author’s books, but it’s almost impossible to get a book into the large chain stores. So self-publishing authors generally rely on their own Web sites and online stores, and many self-publishers make their books available in e-books such as the Kindle, either exclusively or along with print.

Self-published book authors don’t need retail locations, either. They can sell from their Web site, at events such as craft fairs and holiday festivals, and from online stores such as Amazon.com. Most self-publishing authors do not have their books in brick and mortar bookstores.