Not Getting Ink? Then Self-Publish

I recently came across a blog post by investor, writer, entrepreneur James Altucher.  In it, he talks about his decision to move from traditional publishing to self-publishing, and the benefits and process of self-publishing. In fact, Altucher says entrepreneurs should also be self-publishers.  I have written a couple of  books myself (although I've only published one of them), but those books had nothing at all to do my business. So his piece is quite timely because my plan is to self-publish an ebook or two on marketing and small business development.   Self-publishing can be a low-cost way to create new marketing and promotional opportunities, to expand your brand and create another revenue stream (though probably a small one, but then again, you never know).

Altucher has published eight books, of which three were self-published.  He says that after considering the dwindling profit margins in the publishing industry, along with numerous other headaches such as the time it takes between having your book accepted and it being published ( usually about a year), he'll only self-publish from now on.  This makes perfectly good sense given that technology can shrink the timeline to two or three weeks from when you write your book to it being available for people to read it.

You may have heard of Altucher, especially if you're into investing, he's built a couple of successful financial websites, written for the Wall Street Journal and featured weekly on CNBC.  You'd think that with his high profile he'd rather skip the grunt work and stick with traditional methods. Not so. Granted, he's had some rocky times with traditional publishers, but he says he'll never go back.  And that's understandable.  He spent a whopping $70 to self-publish his first book, using Amazon's createspace.com (that included formatting for Kindle).  From what I know about self-publishing, that seemed unusually low. But after reading how he did it, I can see how it's possible.  By the way, I'd appreciate it if you'll use the Amazon search box on this site when looking up createspace.com.

Also, drop me a line, or post a comment, and I'll tell let you know if you qualify to have your ebook published and marketed for free.

Help grow this blog.  Subscribe to Daily Mentions, comment and tell a friend.