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Reader Reviews : Have you self-published a book? Tell readers about your experience

User Rating 4.5 Star Rating (27 Reviews)

By , About.com Guide

Thinking about self-publishing your book, but confused by the choices of a self-publishing company? Read about the experiences of About.com readers who are self-published authors.

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Issues with XLibris

STAY AWAY FROM XLIBRIS. I ended up with a decent finished product but not until I had several really bad experiences with their shoddy performance. Probably the worst was their editing department. I …More

Barnes & Noble's Nook Press Gets Thumbs Up

Nook Press is the most advanced and user-friendly ebook publishing platform I have come across to date. Other platforms require you to upload a .pdf or .doc file and then offer you the opportunity to…More

Creating on Amazon's CreateSpace

I would definitely recommend CreateSpace to anyone looking to get started with self-publishing, with the caveat that they will not sell books simply by existing. Printing a book is one thing, but doi…More

"Flaming" Good Review of Amazon.com's CreateSpace

I would recommend create space because they have clear steps to guide you and are very good with costs. They only take on what you earn so there are no huge payouts with no returns! I would happily p…More

Super-Satisfied with Smashwords

It's great to know that there are more and more self published authors out there. When I first published Pandora's Market using the traditional method I got nowhere with publishers and felt like givi…More

Thumbs Up for Smashwords and Amazon

I would highly recommend Smashwords.com and Amazon.com for self-publishing. Their guidebooks make the process very easy. Plus, distribution is processed completely electronically. I can't say enough …More

Imagine... DIY from Start to Finish

My self-publishing experience was unique. My limted print run was done with a printer. Now, I am using Amazon.com and Createspace. I am also having my current e-book file corrected and I will pursue …More

Author Finds CreateSpace Forums Helpful

I rate Amazon very highly, as it is my first and only site. The CreateSpace cover creator is very easy to use, but I would like to see more templates.The help and training forums are exceedingly open…More

Author Publishes with Trafford

My 2 books titled: Walking with God: A Personal Relationship & And This Is Love: A Spiritual Guide by Evangelist John Dye are excellent reading material for those looking to improve their lives. Traf…More

Kid's Book Author Rates CreateSpace

Self-publishing is great experience but a lot of work. In my case, I did everything with support from many friends: I wrote the stories and selected the illustrator, bought ISBNs, applied for Library…More

Raves for Smashwords

For those authors looking for the widest selling market, Smashwords.com is unbeatable: they will format your book to all available electronic formats, for free. Everything from EPUB to PDF downloads,…More

Pursue Your Dream... and Research!

Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls is in the same genre as Dan Brown's book DA Vinci Code. I submitted my book to Writer's Digest and even though I did not win, I was a winner because I received an all…More

Author Finds Booklocker Helpful

I would recommend Angela and Richard in Florida, who operate Booklocker, Inc., the self-publisher I chose. One of the biggest problems email has given us is the typical slow process of waiting for an…More

"Marketing is Hard" But Author Says "Go for It"!

I would recommend Amazon: they are quite simply number one and have the biggest reach and most potential customers. You can dip your toe in the water by publishing an ebook and decide later whether t…More

Aussie Amazon Author Gets 18,000 Readers

I would recommend Amazon - both Kindle and CreateSpace for self publishing because there is no financial outlay, and your book will be seen by a large audience. Their KDP Select program also allows p…More

An Author's Cautions

Although Amazon charged me no fees and expressed enthusiasm for offering my book, my agent and I expected to receive marketing services that are simply not materializing. Also, we were promised quick…More

Writing the Dream -- a first-time novelist's inspiring story

My best advice would be to focus first on the product and make it as best as you can. Then, determine your budget to move forward. Once you have those two things figured out, research which person or…More

Reader Reviews Lulu.com Experience

I found Lulu to be very user friendly. The forums were useful and the support hotline informative. If I had questions they were promptly answered. The publishing process was pretty fast and easy and …More

Self-published Kindle author a satisfied customer

I tried for years to write to meet major publishing guidelines and would just get bogged down. I ended up shoving the manuscript back in the desk drawer and forgetting about it. In the last year, I …More

True DIY publishing of a futuristic thriller...

I was scared at times. Worrying whether I'd done the right thing to skip the author services company and publish direct. But in retrospect? It was the right decision for me and I do not regret it. It…More

A Self-Published Author Describes Her Journey

When I first SP, I felt deep regret, primarily because I felt I sold out. It took about five years to get over it. I learned a lot about myself as a person and about myself as a writer. I grew, evolv…More

Smashing Review for Smashwords

I would recommend Smashwords to anyone. With their help its easy to format your book and get it out there, so that anyone, with an Ereader or a computer, can find, buy, and read your book.Smashwords …More

Great info from Lightning Source and PubIt! Self-Published Filmmaker

Overall, we were very happy with LSI for print books. One complaint is that they force you to spend $60 to be included in the Ingram catalog. Their relationship with Ingram was something that appeale…More

No language barrier--a self-published author reviews lulu.com

Because I'm from Israel and my native language is not English I was afraid to contact Lulu.com , but after reading the rules of their explanations about the printing process I realized that I could g…More

A review for lulu.com

Note from About.com Book Publishing Guide: This section was improperly submitted. It is meant to be a review of the author's self-publishing experience, not a review of the book itself.…More

Reader raves about Amazon DTP

Self publishing was both scary and exhilarating. The fear of whether anyone would buy my book as well as would they like it. To see my first months sales was amazing. People were buying it that I did…More

A reader self-published with Outskirts Press

I would definitely recommend self-publishing to any author, seasoned or new. It is a way to get around the hassles and rejections from traditional publishers. If your book is good enough and you want…More

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