Cheap is as Cheap Does -- Why a $99 Self-Publishing Deal is Not a Deal
Many authors ask questions about self-publishers such as iUniverse or more recently Book Baby or Smashwords. Now before I explain why these "publishers" are nothing more than a "mechanism" to get your book out there, I want to be fair. Some of these services do exactly what they say -- they get your book converted to an eBook and then posted on eBook distribution service like Kindle on Amazon or Nook on Barnes and Noble. A place like iUniverse does a little more than that, but for the most part not much more. After speaking to hundreds of authors who have used self-publishing services, I would like to clear up the confusion that seems to follow some of the more popular self-publishers. Your book is edited by a professional -- true or false ? False ! Some services provide ZERO editing. Other services provide an editor. Is that editor always qualified? One review of some back cover copies produced by some of these self-publishers suggests a lack of quali...