Wendy Taleo asked Michael Dickel:

Have you self-published? If so, why and how would you recommend going about that?

Michael Dickel Yes, I have self-published.

Why? To get my poetry out there, after sending my manuscript out.

How? I used Lulu.com for that book, which was my second, but my first print book. The first was with a publisher of free e-books, now defunct. I don't recommend Lulu for everybody, but if one is willing to work at promotion and get interviews and reviews, it could work for one or two books.

That said, Is a Rose Press is a micro press that three others and I started. Since the four of us started it, two people have moved on because of other commitments related to academic jobs. So far, we have published five books (including two of mine) and are working on our sixth, which, when it comes out, would include four authors.

Is a Rose Press is not exactly self-publishing, although the two of us remaining started with our own books to work out the kinks. We use Lightning Source International (LSI), a print-on-demand service associated with Ingram's wholesalers. In another sense, as we have expanded to include other authors and intend to publish more, we are a micro-press now.

I like LSI for having a press doing a number of books—however, if you are only going to do one or two books of your own, I think that CreateSpace.com (Amazon's service) or Lulu.com are probably better. Neither have upfront set-up costs (unless you choose to have your own ISBN number—which is a whole other topic, but isn't that much, and you have to buy them if you use a service like LSI).

I am currently helping a client prepare a book for publication on CreateSpace. I have used Lulu. They both are satisfactory for someone wanting to publish a single book (or two). I think there are advantages to going through a different sort of printing service, like LSI, if you want to publish more books (say, at a guess, more than four).

flag