good self-publishing

You don't get a choice with self-publishers. The only one you get is yourself. You can either do it well or badly. Up to you.

Tate is a vanity publisher with a pretty extensive thread in Bewares, Recommendations & Background Checks: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=992

Generally, if the ISBN lists someone other than you as the publisher, it's not self-publishing (no matter how hard the vanities will try to convince you otherwise, including renaming their operations "assisted self-publishing" or "subsidy publishing").

Good luck!

Tate isn't self-publishing, it's vanity publishing with a $4K price tag.

Since you're going to be doing all the work yourself anyway, no matter which vanity you choose, why not genuinely self-publish, keep all the rights, and keep all the income?

Self-publishing is a sub-branch of commercial publishing. The publisher is very small (only one author). But the model is exactly the same as with any of the Big Six. The publisher pays for everything; the author gets a cut of the income before the publisher gets paid off.

The flow of money is toward the author. Even if it's only flowing from one pocket to another in the same pair of pants, that's still the way it's moving.

A lot of the vanities have adopted the language of self-publishing (while not altering their business models by one little bit) in order to fool the unwary.

Don't be taken in by any of them.

AnthonyJones said:

I'm thinking about self publishing. How is the best way to go about that?

Who are some good self publishers? I looked into Tate's Publishing but I saw they had some bad reviews.

Any advice?

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As already stated, that's not self-pubbing.

Based on the fact that you aren't' aware of the difference between vanity (bad/mostly scams) and self publishing, I think you're not really ready to publish. It's not a bad thing, we all have to start somewhere on the bell curve.

Right now, you just have a lot to learn about publishing in any capacity before you can choose how to do it. Otherwise you may end up just being another victim statistic.

What are your goals with publishing? What do you write? Non-fiction, local niche market where you know you can place product and sell might actually be fine for a vanity publisher. But if you don't write that, then it's not likely even remotely something you should consider. I know someone that wrote a book on where to eat in L.A. for under $10. That was a very niche market. I don't know if she vanity published or small pressed it but it's the example I'm using. It would work for vanity publishing only because she can place the product in local bookstores, local gas stations, local shops and even local restaurants that she has in the book. She has lots of options and has the potential to make back her printing costs and make a small profit.

If you write fiction, this is definitely not a good choice. You should be looking at epublishing and POD, which is what most people are talking about when they say self publishing.

You have a lot of research ahead of you. And it's overwhelming. Good luck.

If you're even considering a paid service you're almost always better off learning a bit yourself, and hiring a cover designer and book formatter as needed.

Then use Createspace, Lulu, or Lightning Source depending on your needs to print the book.

Alternately, you might consider the even less expensive alternative of trying ebooks first to see if there's an audience out there for your book.

(Info on all these choices is readily available.)

I've heard some decent things about Createspace from my e-Publisher. Of course, one of the negatives is that you can't sell your work on Amazon or Barnes & Noble's web sites. Self-publishing is a lot of work, but if you're up for it, then go for it.

If I were just starting out with the idea of self-publishing, I'd spend at least a year learning.

And I'd start with the free .pdf from ResearchGuy, here:

http://www.umbachconsulting.com/pursuit.pdf

This is someone who's been self-publishing for years, long before it was cool.

He's smart, and practical.

Alwaysinspired said:

I've heard some decent things about Createspace from my e-Publisher. Of course, one of the negatives is that you can't sell your work on Amazon or Barnes & Noble's web sites. Self-publishing is a lot of work, but if you're up for it, then go for it.

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Createspace *is* Amazon.

When you self pub ebooks, there's a lot of work involved and you have to know how to upload and format to all the different ebook outlets. You rarely use just one.

AnthonyJones said:

I've been doing research for a year now actually.

I know everything there is to know about agents and publishers. And I know all about the kindle publishing that is trending right now.

Just not on self-publishing. I've read on a lot of threads of self-publishing becoming more popular and successful so I wanted to check with it. I just didn't know that by self-publishing people didn't mean doing it through a self-publishing company.

Thank you all!!!

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Currently, when people talk about self publishing, 9 times out of 10, ebooks/POD (Print On Demand) is what they are talking about. That's kindle (Createspace), Smashwords, B&N (PubIt!), Lulu, etc.

I have no idea what the 10th person is talking about. Usually Vanity Publishing.

AnthonyJones said:

Oh okay.

Thank you! I'm going to look into Lula and see what it's all about.

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And for Heaven's sake, if you make an ebook, don't do a %&(#*#& text dump.

I'm so very sick to death of ebooks that are essentially generated by exporting one file format to another.

A book should be a container that's specifically designed to showcase the text inside. The real "book" is the text, not the container. Do your story proud.

Alwaysinspired said:

I've heard some decent things about Createspace from my e-Publisher. Of course, one of the negatives is that you can't sell your work on Amazon or Barnes & Noble's web sites.

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Createspace does get you on Amazon (as someone already pointed out it is Amazon), and in addition they have an expanded distribution channel that will get the book on the B&N site as well. I've read varying opinions of whether the expanded distribution channel is actually worthwhile, since it does require paying additional money. I think there's a great deal of blog time devoted to the discussion which might be worth looking into if you decide to go that route.

If you want to learn how to do it all yourself (or how to hire people to do certain tasks for you for a *flat fee*), I recommend Dean Wesley Smith's series "Think Like a Publisher": http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=3736

He lays it all out in a pretty simple, no-nonsense terms.

Amanda Hocking certainly did well for herself, and she's a little more upfront and honest about everything she did to get there than some people which is awesome. You might want to read through her blog just to see how she went about doing it.

Medievalist said:

If I were just starting out with the idea of self-publishing, I'd spend at least a year learning.

And I'd start with the free .pdf from ResearchGuy, here:

http://www.umbachconsulting.com/pursuit.pdf

This is someone who's been self-publishing for years, long before it was cool.

He's smart, and practical.

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I second that. Ken has helped me out too. He is a proper bloke you can trust.

New, too

Hello, AnthonyJones...I'm also a newbie here, but if you don't mind, I'd like to offer an opinion to your query...A few years ago, I was in the same boat as you and I opted to go with Outskirts Press to publish my first YA novel Buggy Crenshaw and the Bungler's Paradox. I was encouraged by good reviews and so I decided to take the plunge...
To make a long story short, I learned a great deal from that experience and I immediately ran off and started my own publishing company (Gabby Cat Publishing). It's easy to start a business, but it's hard work to maintain it.

AnthonyJones said:

I'm thinking about self publishing. How is the best way to go about that?

Who are some good self publishers? I looked into Tate's Publishing but I saw they had some bad reviews.

Any advice?

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I am late to post in this thread, and some of this is redundant, but here goes:

1. Read Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual. Join (or at least attend meetings of) an affiliate of IBPA.
2. Tate is a vanity/subsidy press. It has nothing to do with self-publishing.
3. Here are some good self-publishers (that is, writers who have published books they wrote, and have done so to high standards and with considerable success):

--www.bridgehousebooks.com (Naida West)
--www.deervalleypress.com (William [Bill] Teie)
--www.gardenwisdompress.com (Carolyn Singer)
--www.stagecoachbooks.com (Alton Pryor)
--www.greatlittlebook.com (Karl Palachuk)

Those are all folks I know personally and can vouch for, and whose success and energy I can only aspire to.

My sincere thanks for the kind words from Manny, a fine gentleman, and from Medievalist, a person of vast learning and pertinent experience.

My booklet might be helpful. (Medievalist provided the link, or see my sig. block.) It has additional resources and recommendations.

--Ken

Midian said:

Based on the fact that you aren't' aware of the difference between vanity (bad/mostly scams) and self publishing, I think you're not really ready to publish.

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That was my feeling too.

AnthonyJones said:

I've been doing research for a year now actually.

I know everything there is to know about agents and publishers. And I know all about the kindle publishing that is trending right now.

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With respect, you still have a lot to learn. That you think that a year's research has taught you all you need to know about publishing, and yet you still asked that question about Tate, shows a big gap in your knowledge. I don't mean to be mean here, and I hope you're not offended: but I also don't want to see anyone get caught up in the hands of some scammy vanity publisher just because I didn't speak out.

izanobu said:

If you want to learn how to do it all yourself (or how to hire people to do certain tasks for you for a *flat fee*), I recommend Dean Wesley Smith's series "Think Like a Publisher": http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=3736

He lays it all out in a pretty simple, no-nonsense terms.

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I wouldn't recommend Mr Wesley Smith's blog to anyone who is interested in learning how publishing really works. If you're looking for an inaccurate, tabloid-like, shock-horror view of the publishing world then you might find it helpful.

maxshilo said:

A few years ago, I was in the same boat as you and I opted to go with Outskirts Press

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I've reviewed several books from Outskirts Press on my self-publishing review blog. They have all been very poorly edited and produced, with very low production and printing values. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

Nor would I.