There are many self-publishing companies. At How to Publish a Book, we only recommend a few. I have had
personal experience self-publishing through two print distributors: Lulu.com and CreateSpace.com. I recommend both. CreateSpace tends to get you the lowest-priced base cost per book, but they only distribute directly to
you and through Amazon.com. So, if you're planning to handsell your books at events or have your own distribution network
in place, CreateSpace is better.
Lulu, on the other
hand, tends to charge a little more per printed page and so the base price of your finished book will be higher. However,
Lulu has services to place your book into many distribution channels, and that can make your book available to more readers.
Some Lulu advocates also say that the quality of the books are slightly higher than at CreateSpace, though to me personally,
the difference is negligible.
If you're planning to
self-publish your book as an eBook, I recommend Amazon Kindle and the Digital Text Platform. The "DTP" as it is called is a user-friendly website to upload and catalogue your eBook through Amazon's Kindle
store. I have also had a lot of friends recommend SmashWords.com, though I have not yet used that system. SmashWords.com is much like the Amazon DTP, except that publishing your eBook at
SmashWords will get your book into different eBook retail outlets like the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Sony eReader.
If you have questions about self-publishing, feel free to drop us a line.
We'd love to hear from you, and enjoy helping to try to find the right fit for your book. Thanks so much!
