How to Make Money Publishing from Home by Lisa Shaw covers the broadest scope of self-publishing ideas of any of the books I’ve read thus far. Like several of the other books I’ve reviewed, this one is organized into three parts:

1. The Home-Based Publishing Industry – this section covers a lot of the preliminary considerations one should make before jumping into self-publishing. It discusses some of the pros and cons of running a home-based publishing businesses and helps the reader determine if they are really cut out for it or not.

2. Your Publishing Choices – from booklets to greeting cards to software to books, this section addresses many of the possibilities for the self-publisher. Each of the different areas was further broken into these points:

• Description of Business
• Ease of Startup – rated easy, moderate or difficult, followed by a rationale for the rating
• Range of Initial Investment – specific dollar amounts to give the reader an idea of what they can expect to spend to start the business
• Time Commitment – Part-time or Full-time with a few extra details
• Success Potential – a realistic assessment of what the publisher can expect, what the competition is like and what direction the market is headed
• How to Market the Business – a list of the best approaches based on the business type
• The Pros – positive aspects to the particular business type
• The Cons – specific drawbacks to the particular business type
• Special Considerations – random useful notes to further educate the reader
• Profile – a section telling the true story (with the one being profiled writing their story in the first person) of someone who is a self-publisher in the particular business type and thoughts on what worked and what didn’t work for them

3. The Business of Running Your Home-Based Publishing Business – this section covered a lot of the basics for both a publishing business specifically, but also for home-based businesses in general. Since I already run a home-based business, I skimmed over a lot of this part, but for someone just starting into a home-based business for the first time, it provides a lot of important considerations.

This book is both realistic and practical while still opening up the reader’s mind to the varied possibilities available in the self-publishing world. Although I am focusing solely on my book right now, I found myself growing excited about the possibility of also publishing booklets in the future. I kept thinking of all sorts of topics that would be perfect for a booklet and had to remind myself not to get carried away and start yet another project!