Review: Top Self-Publishing Firms
April 20, 2009 by Lillie
Top Self-Publishing Firms: How Writers Get Published, Sell More Books, and Rise to the Top and Make Money Working from Home
with the Best Print On Demand Self-Publishing Companies
Stacie Vander Pol
Copyright 2008
CreateSpace
ISBN:1440407541
Paperback, 156 pages, $16.95
Nonfiction
In my Self-Publishing Primer, I differentiate between subsidy publishing and self-publishing. So when Stacie Vander Pol asked me to review her book Top Self Publishing Firms: How Writers Get Published, Sell More Books, and Rise to the Top: and Make Money Working from Home with the Best Print On Demand Self-Publishing Companies
Stacie’s goal is not to convince the reader to publish their book through a self-publishing (or subsidy publishing) company. The book is designed for writers who have already done their research on publishing options and decided this option is right for them. Her purpose is to help writers choosing to publish through one of these companies to find the best company for them, and her focus is on how successful the companies’ clients are in selling books.
Chapter 1 begins this way:
This book profiles the top twenty-six self-publishing firms based on their sales results. Other factors in self-publishing are important, but without sales none of them matter. Book sales will determine how much money you make, how seriously you are taken as a writer, and how much recognition your book receives.
She gives examples of the Amazon sales rank of books published by the companies she profiles, and she covers services provided in the publishing packages offered by these kinds of companies. Most useful for a writer choosing a publishing company, however, are the comparison chart and the profiles of individual companies.
Specific details, such as available packages and costs, may change, so I recommend that you verify the information before choosing a company. However, Top Self Publishing Firms
Before using this book, you need to determine if publishing through what Stacie calls a self-publishing company and I call a subsidy publishing company is the best choice for you. If you decide to publish through one of these companies, then this book can help you choose the right company.
Stacie will be here on Wednesday for an interview and to answer your questions. Be sure to come back then to learn more.
I have a friend who is making a picture book. I told her to do the publishing or printing herself. But I think she did not heed my advise and rather seek printers to do it for her. My question is this, can it be possible to send the pictures through the net? how about the huge image size? will it take forever for it to send? I tested it before and it was really impossible.
Anne,
I’m not quite clear on your question. If you are asking about sending the file to a printer, you can use a service like YouSendIt. You upload the file to their Web site; they then notify the recipient via e-mail where to download the file. I use YouSendIt regularly, and I know there are several other similar services. Usually, it’s free up to a certain size or number of files.
If you are talking about your friend selling her book as a e-book, then sending to customers, she needs a shopping cart that will handle downloads. I use E-Junkie, but again there are others.
Hope I’ve answered your question. If not, explain again what you want to know.
Yes, the sending of the huge file I mean. Her virtual illustrator sends the finish pages through email. They used yousendit but it will take 14 days before the page is receive. So the huge file was reduced and the printers will just edit the page. For self publishing, is there any copyrighting procedure to follow? By the way, I told her about your post, so she will also know how…Thanks for replying to my inquiry.
Anne,
I don’t understand about the file taking 14 days to be received through YouSendIt. Everything I have sent or received has been delivered immediately. But obviously, I don’t know everything about the system.
Re: copyright—anything you write is copyrighted to you as soon as it is put into “fixed form,” i.e., written on paper, put in a computer, etc. There are advantages to registering the copyright, though. You can learn more in my series on copyright. All the parts are linked from the first one.
Thank you for telling your friend about my post. She may find my Self-Publishing Primer helpful.
Woah that’s one long title. But the book seems interesting. It’s always nice to learn new stuff and reading about self-publishing might be useful in the future.
tom,
When I interview Stacie on Wednesday I say something along the lines that she’d already written a book when she finished the title.
But the book has useful information for anyone planning to use one of kinds of firms to publish their work.
It seems like the ammount of information in it is huge. And actualy a long title in an informative book isn’t a problem – it lets readers know exectly what they’re going to learn from it.
jack,
Yes, there is a lot of information, and the long subtitle gives a good idea of what the book is about. Also the short main title is easy to remember and all you need to find the book.
My best friend just got into NYU’s month-long publishing program. I know she eventually wants to write books and get published, but I don’t think she knows that she can self-publish. I’ll have to show her this post. Thanks!
Nancy´s last blog post..Life Insurance Quotes For Planning The Future
Nancy,
Thanks for sharing this with your friend. Hope she does well in the publishing program.
Awesome and informative article. As an aspiring writer, myself, this is exactly the kind of information and guidance I need to publish my book. Thank you again.
PPCF (if you wrote YourName@Keywords, I could address you as a real person rather than a bunch of letters, and you would get your keyword link),
This is valuable information for aspiring writers; there is much more writers need to know, and I hope other posts and links to other resources will also help.
Sounds like a good book. Self publishing can really help a lot of writers to pursue what they want to do and to express themselves.
John,
Anyone interested in using this type of company will find the book helpful. For anyone who hasn’t decided whether to form their own self-publishing company or use a company like this, I suggest they read my Self-Publishing Primer first.
Your review for the book are quite convincing.I will have to appreciate you for your simple language which is very understandable.Your simplicity and the title and content of the book have generated interest in me to check the book in the store.
Chaitanya Sagar,
You can find the book at Amazon.com. The author will be here on Wednesday for an interview and to answer questions in comments.
Excellent review on this book. You gave me a clear picture of what this book is about and I think it will be quite useful for a writer friend of mine.
Susan,
I’m glad the review was helpful. If your friend has already decided to use one of these companies, this book is her next step. If she’s still exploring her options, she may want to read my Self-Publishing Primer first.
I’d be interested in hearing what goes into the “best sales.” Was it the authors pushing the promotion? Did the top publishing companies do something that helped to push the sales?
Helen
http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com
Helen,
Stacie will be here Wednesday to answer questions. I don’t know if she analyzed the reasons for specific titles selling well.
This is good information, Lillie. I know that there are a number of companies who offer self or subsidized publishing, but would be at a loss to know who these companies are. Now, I have a list which is in the form of a book that I can recommend to people who ask me for more information. Thank you for your review!
Matt,
I’m glad the review was helpful. This book is a good resource for writers interested in using these kinds of companies. There are so many such companies, and many of them are best avoided.
Lillie, it sounds like this Top Self-Publishing Firms is essential, especially for those that want to pursuit their career as a dedicated writer!
wilson,
This book is essential for writers who want to publish using a self-publishing/subsidy company. It is most helpful after the writer has reviewed all the options and chosen a publishing method. The promotional information is valuable whether the writer is self-published, subsidy published, or traditionally published.
I am currently writing a book which I am planning to self-publish it. Your article has been helpful to me. Thanks!
Salwa,
I’m glad this article was helpful. If you haven’t already done so, you may want to download the Self-Publishing Primer for more information about self-publishing.
Thanks for the post. I have always had an interest in publishing my own book one of these days, but finding a publisher has always been a big concern.
The only other thing I am really worried about is spending all of the time to write the book and getting it published only to see that it is being sold for a couple bucks on merchant pages like with Amazon.com. I have never figured out how independent merchants are able to sell books ridiculously cheaper than everywhere else, but that would be good to know so I can take any preventative measures (that is, if there are any).
Have you ever ran into this problem?
Real (if you wrote YourName@Keywords, I could address you as a real person, and you would still get your keyword link),
The merchant pages are usually used books. Sometimes reviewers sell review copies, but often they’re just books like someone bought and read and sold as used. That’s no different from someone selling a book at a used bookstore.
This book sounds very interesting. My fiance actually wrote a childrens book and is looking to publish it, so I am definitely going to recommend it to him. Thank you!
12 (if you wrote YourName@Keywords, I could address you as a real person, and you would still get your keyword link),
Be sure to tell your fiance about my free Self-Publishing Primer as well. That may help him in the stages before he’s ready for Stacie’s book.
Lillie,
I enjoyed reading this review. Thank you for the link to it! Despite the difference of opinion between you and the author, it’s fortunate that this book still gave useful information for readers and that you still found it to be a helpful book to add to a collection of books on self-publishing.
And thank you so much for commenting on my blog. It was very encouraging!
Take care.
Dawn Colclasure´s last blog ..Getting ready to self-publish
Dawn,
I’m glad you found the review helpful. Hope your self-publishing ventures goes well.
Responses to this post: