I’ve been reading through The Prepublishing Handbook: What you should know before you publish your first book by Patricia J. Bell and found this sentiment both slightly humorous and quite relieving:
“You need to have a strong belief in yourself and your capabilities to do what has to be done. This need not be a major problem. If you were smart enough to write a good book, then you are smart enough to publish it. Remember, you can remedy ignorance through vigorous self-education.”
The more I dive into the world of self-publishing, the more I feel ready to drown in the sheer mass of information one must assimilate in order to proceed in an informed manner. I continue to feel increasingly ignorant! But Ms. Bell’s statement inspires me to engage in vigorous self-education. Perhaps eventually I’ll feel like I know something!
June 28th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Congratulations on your endeavor. As a professional in the publishing business (copyediting, proofreading, indexing) with almost 30 years of experience, I can say that the world of self-publishing has made great strides in even just the last few years. With the proper vendors (everything from cover design to editing), there is nothing that keeps a self-publisher from putting out a product that looks even better than those of the biggest publishing houses in the world, for whom quality seems to be lagging more and more each day. Many self-publishers in the realm of nonfiction forget about indexes, when really there’s little more than can add (or detract) value from a nonfiction book. I’ve worked on quite a few indexes for self-publishing authors, and if you’d like to know more (or about copyediting or proofreading), please visit my own blog: boblandedits.blogspot.com.