Successful Self-Publisher Tells Authors: 'Forget the Publisher, Do It Yourself'

Landing a publisher has never been more difficult. Yet, seeing one's labor of love in print remains a dream for so many, even if it's achieved by so few. But a new book, "The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living," offers up another possible option to the legions of authors brooding over stacks of publishing company rejection letters. Its message: "Publish it yourself and make a living from it".

Peter Bowerman, who authored the 2000 Book-of-the-Month Club title, "The Well-Fed Writer," and its 2005 companion, "TWFW: Back For Seconds" (www.wellfedwriter.com), self-published both books. His resulting success -- 50,000 copies in print and a full-time living for five-plus years -- inspired the current title.

Bowerman sees several distinct advantages to self-publishing, observing, "Authors who beat today's near-lottery odds and actually land a publisher can count on anemic royalty rates, 18 to 24 months to publication, and giving up the rights to their books. And they'll still be expected to do most of the marketing themselves! With self-publishing, yes, you handle the marketing, but you stay in control of the process and timetable, while keeping the rights and most of the money."

According to Bowerman, self-publishing means, "doing everything a publisher would do. Yes, a big job, but there are countless tools and strategies to simplify those tasks. Add in the Internet for marketing and promotion, and you can achieve a 'playing-field-leveling' degree of productivity and efficiency between you and bigger publishers that earlier generations could only dream of."

Indeed, Bowerman asserts a self-publisher can best a publisher in virtually every aspect of the process, especially marketing. "While a publisher is limited in personnel and resources," he says, "a self-publisher can craft the optimal marketing plan for their book."

Media: Contact author for interviews and review copies. Visit http://www.wellfedsp.com (Attn: Media link for media resources) for sample chapter, contents, testimonials, and more. Both books (and earlier titles) available through the web site, bookstores, and on Amazon.com.



Author Information

Peter Bowerman
Fanove Publishing