The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book

by Stacy Dymalski

Winner of the New York City Big Book Award in Writing and Publishing, this is the only book you'll need to self-publish your book.If you want self-publishing explained to you in easy-to-understand terms, so you can get your book out efficiently, “Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book” is for you. It walks you through the self-publishing process, using practical examples you can apply to your own manuscript. With checklists at the end of each chapter, by the time you're done reading this book you’ll know exactly what it takes, and how much it costs, to self-publish. Whether you’re a professional speaker, an expert in your field, or you just want to share your story, self-publishing has become a viable option to getting your message out into the world. "Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book" teaches you everything you need to know about publishing your book like a pro and provides you with the confidence you need to push forward with your self-publishing goals, so you can finally give birth to your story. Is this the year you wanted to release your book? Then do it. With “Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book” your chances are better than ever of achieving your goal.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2020

About the author

A native west-coaster, I started my professional story-telling career as a standup comic at age 19 when I did an open mic night at the Punch Line in San Francisco. After that I spent every weekend onstage at comedy clubs.

Three years later I graduated from UC Berkeley with a mathematics degree, and became a technical trainer and sales support engineer for companies like McDonnell Douglas, Computer Associates, Arthur Andersen, IBM, and Adobe. By day I honed my corporate speaking skills, but at night I continued perfecting my funny stories as a comedian in clubs like The Comedy Store, The Improv, and countless small clubs around the country.

I was also a member of the improv groups The Fault Line Players and Off the Top Comedy. A few years later I enrolled in the UCLA post graduate Screenwriter program, and then found my niche as a script doctor and feature writer.

In 2012 I was a semi-finalist for the title of World Champion of Public Speaking on the world stage in Toastmasters International Speech Contest, and in 2016 I gave a TEDx Talk about my experience working with author David C. Taylor (who happened to be in federal prisoner at the time) to adapt his book "Jacumba Connection" into the feature screenplay "Checkpoint."

Today I own my own story development business (branded as The Memoir Midwife), in which I help everyone from studios to retirees find, write, and share their stories in the form of books and movies.

Reviews

[Marilyn Anderson]

This is a terrific book for anyone embarking on a self-publishing journey. It's a quick read that gives clear and concise directions on all the steps to get your own book out in the marketplace. Stacy has an engaging and conversational style of writing that makes it fun along the way.

[Heidi]

Outstanding book for learning, step-by-step, how to self-publish your book! Highly recommend it.

[Grady]

‘There’s no getting around it. Content is king’ – a fun and invaluable guide for writers!

California author Stacy Dymalski earned her degree in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and served as a technical trainer and sales support engineer for corporations, following which she gained her Screenwriter Certificate from UCLA and now serves as a story consultant and producer for authors and filmmakers in Hollywood. Her own company is The Memoir Midwife that serves as a resource for script doctors and feature film writers. She also is a popular comedian, solo theater performer, and corporate speaker. Her books to date – CONFESSIONS OF A BAND GEEK MOM and now THE MEMOIR MIDWIFE.

In her jocular style of conversational writing Stacy opens her guide to self publishing by comparing writing and publishing a book to pregnancy: idea, gestation, parturition, and presentation of a new baby to the world: the nine months of pregnancy reflect the nine steps to self-publishing! That manner of sharing makes this book not only irreplaceable for novice writers but also a delightfully entertaining guide to success. Her nine steps: Write, Copyright, Buy ISBN, Get barcode, Get Library of Congress listing, Decide BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) category, Hire professionals (editor, copyeditor, book designer for cover and interior), Select POD website, and ‘Postpartum’ (feedback form readers and reviewers). Stacy provides easy to follow instructions in each of the nine steps, including checklists and tips at the end of each section that reassure understanding and progress. For everyone writing books – especially first-timers – this book is invaluable! Very highly recommended.

[Guy Wheatley]

This is an informative book on the technical process of getting a book published. It wasn’t a motivational piece to keep you writing. It is presented in a humorous way that makes the reading easy.
The author does assume the aspiring writer will eventually publish and offers advice based on assumed eventual sales. She advises hiring editors, designers, and purchasing your own ISBN number. This will have the potential author spending thousands of dollars.
I don’t argue that you get what you pay for, and agree that without those expenses your work will not be its best. But likely most authors will never recoup those expenses. Yes, I know J. K. Rowling and Andy Weir. People do win the lottery and hit it big in Vegas. But I wouldn’t suggest those as good business plans. I read, on average, two books per week. Many of those are by indie authors. I’ve discovered that my eyes don’t explode when I hit a misplaced comma or misspelled word.
If you are aiming at that “book deal,” then yes, you’ll have to spend the money. But you should do so with the clear eyed understanding that it is a numbers game. There will thousands of submissions against yours, and likely the publishers will select one or two. The odds are not in your favor.
There is nothing wrong with writing for the love of writing.

[Stacy Charles]

Self-publishing your book no longer has to be a daunting task. Dymalski’s The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing your Book provides a clear guide on what should be done. The Memoir Midwife acts as a publishing coach and presents tasks in steps with a checklist of what should be done in each step. The first four steps outlined by Dymalski are:

- Write your book
- Start a Publishing Company - this chapter shares very important tips one should not omit while establishing a publishing company
- Copyright your book - since you don’t want someone to just steal your manuscript, Dymalski reveals how to navigate the copyright process in detail.
- Buy your book’s ISBN

Without revealing all the steps involved, I would recommend this book for aspiring authors as it details the process in detail and is a high resource when considering publishing a book. Doing your due diligence is always advised, however, The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing your Book is a great way to begin your journey as a potential author.

[Conscientious]

The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book by Stacy Dymalski is a quick, detailed step by step guide on publishing your own book. The author has made this guide into nine steps which are easy to follow the process. Publishing a book can be a daunting and difficult journey but the author expertly guides as publishing coach detailing a checklist. The steps are in a particular order so that to strategize the tasks in a way which consumes less time also.

This is a terrific guide to new and seasoned authors alike for its ease to follow steps. I too want to publish a book of my own in future and it gives me peace of mind to know I will not be lost for publishing my own book. The author’s tone is fun to read, and all the advice are practical and relevant. A must read guide for all the authors.

[Chico's Mom]

Insightful reference.
The step-by-step guide on how to self-publish. The author has written really good tips straight
to the point. He advises on what should be done to get your voice published. One thing I would have appreciated would be illustrations and more diagrams, since we are comparing it to pregnancy. I don't know, maybe it makes it more entertaining and enjoyable
to read, since technically steps and processes are very mundane topics, so we need something to pick us up and let us enjoy the process of self-publishing. I like the cover, it's very colorful. I wish it had more of them in the book. It was easy to understand
though; it inspires me to maybe publish in the future, and now I know what and who I should hire to make it a reality, where to start and how to continue with the groove of self-publishing.

[Kourtney Bradley]

Writers who are looking to self-publish are not singled out on their search for ways of best delivery and how to reach and achieve the publishing goals they have for themselves. While self-publishing might sound overwhelming at first glance, The Memoir Midwife breaks down the self-publishing process into nine steps that will help writers to solidify their process and start making moves in the right direction. This is the best guide for those who are looking for the quickest and most efficient way to get their writing published and their name known. It's a quick and simple read, but don't sit on this one- take a chance and let your creative mind flow with the peace of not having to worry the publishing situations.

[Alfredo R]

The ABC for self-publishing

The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book (Second Edition) is, without doubts, the perfect book for those who are willing to become self-publishing writers. It does not matter the content of the book, the author of this reader, called Stacy Dymalski, is eager to help those in need.

The book is organised with step-by-step instructions, checklists at the end of each chapter and some useful tips. The information is clear and concise - in only sixty and something pages, future writers can get their books published.

I give this book five stars because I cannot find any flaws. I wish the author the best because she was really helpful!

[Nela]

This is the updated second edition of “The Memoir Midwife” by author Stacy Dymalski, which is a practical and useful guide to Self-Publishing books. It leads writers through the entire process, step by step, from creating the book to even the outcomes of the publication, offering wise advice and powerful information. I found the strategies, checklists and examples given by an expert really valuable, as well as the variety of other useful resources provided.
In some way, this book provides insights of indie authors´ life and background of books, and even not being a writer, I enjoyed it. That is why I truly recommend it to all interested writers.

[Ashley Mitchell]

The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book by Stacy Dymalski is a guide in which the author helps deliver your thought babies. Seriously though, it’s a clear guide. It has great value too, if you think about it as a supplement or even replacement for an assistant or manager. It’s sad to think that the complexities of publishing a book could hold some people back. I like that this book is step-by-step, literally from step one: write a book, all the way to setting up a Print on Demand website so that elves can print and distribute your book for you and make you lots of money. But really, it’s a good guide with helpful tips.

[S Tyty]

As its title suggests, this book enlightens us on how to publish a book in a few steps. It walks us through a successful path towards a final published book.
I particularly enjoyed this second edition since it has been strategically updated with links, resources and strategies that were not included in the previous one.
If I have to summarize my opinion of this book in one word, I would go with: time-saver. The fact that by following the steps suggested by this book a lot of investigation, research and time is reduced while working on our book is something to highlight.
All in all, this self-published book is a gem for these days when books are published online more often than before.

[Mia C.]

The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book by author Dymalski is not any self-publishing book, but one very complete and special. It provides very useful information in less than a hundred pages, so it is a fast read that I certainly recommend reading to everyone wanting to publish a book.
Achieving a goal such as publishing a book is a very hard one, so readings such as this one are essential for people such as me, who have just published a book. I would really like to have found it before. It would have helped me a lot really. Anyways, its information is invaluable and it would be really useful for my next book. It is clear and concise. I liked it.

[Märtha Custis]

Publishing a book is something that many people dream of but one which few sadly manage to achieve. However, Stacy Dymalski makes everything simple and easy to achieve in her book The Memoir Midwife: Nine Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book.
The book is divided into easy-to-follow sections with a guided checklist at the end of each chapter. I really appreciated the direct and no-nonsense manner in which the author lays out the various pros and cons throughout the book as it makes it a lot easier to choose the best path for your personal needs.
Overall, an incredibly helpful all-in-one guide for anything self-publishing related; The Memoir Midwife is a veritable bible for anyone looking to finally get their thoughts in print.