Review by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This is the Place
The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing
By Tom and Marilyn Ross
Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio
ISBN: 1-58297-091-2
$19.99
Writers alert! A book we all need is here. Anyone tempted to pooh, pooh that may be dissing a chance at success.
The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing is a book for writers who are new to publishing and those who aren’t. It is a book for writers who are already published by big houses or little. It is a book for writers who are scared and trying to decide how to publish and where. It is a book for writers who want to have their books read.
Written by Tom and Marilyn Ross, the gurus of SPAN (Small Publishers of North America), this book is chock-full of 521 pages of up-to-the-times information on the publishing scene, on selling books, and on publicizing books. It has all the how-to nitty gritty necessary if you decide to do it yourself.
If you don’t decide to self publish, you’ll still be glad you have this one under your belt; these days everyone knows that even if you land a big publisher you can’t expect very much support from their marketing office.
This tome includes recommended reading, point-of-purchase suppliers, printers, catalogs, review sources, bookstore chains, and on and on. It also includes the dope on e-publishing. As a reviewer, I should be finding some flaw in this book, so you can believe the praise. Sorry, I just can’t. I can only visualize what this might do for any writer’s career.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a columnist for The Pasadena Star News and Home Decor Buyer. You can find more about her first novel, This is the Place, at www.tlt.com/authors/carolynhowardjohnson.htm.