It has now been almost five years since I published my debut book, a short-story collection titled Save Me, San Francisco. I knew, even when I was publishing it, that this was a "learning experience" book. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. And it showed: to date I have sold under 10 books.

And yet, since publishing I've become much more knowledgeable about self-publishing and all it entails. The benefit of self-publishing is that anyone can do it. The downside to self-publishing is al...