Self Publishing as an Option | God Plus Nothing

August 2010
We went into the ‘self-publish mode’ with our eyes mostly open! We talked to many people and received admonitions like this:

“Is there a good reason why someone should NOT self-publish their book?

“The ‘you’re in charge’ aspect of self-publishing is a double edged sword that has been beaten into the ground and usually presented incorrectly…. …. I am talking about being really in charge. As a self-publisher you are the publisher and as the publisher you are in charge of everything. The buck stops here… (with you) so to speak. You do not have to physically do everything but you are personally responsible for every component of your book…. …. ignorance of the publishing process is no excuse when you produce a substandard product and it fails.

“If you can’t take the pressure of every decision made during the publishing process sitting squarely on your shoulders… don’t publish…. …. As the publisher you and you alone are responsible for the editing, whether you hire an outside editor or not. There are going to be mistakes, no matter who does the editing. If you can’t handle this concept, don’t publish. You are responsible for the layout and design of the book, whether you hire an outside designer or not. A proof is just that… a proof. If your designer introduced an error into the book and you OK the proof, it’s yours. Same thing goes with the printer. If you are sent a proof with page 20 in front of page 19 and you OK it… and it prints…. it’s yours. On the more subtle side, if your cover color doesn’t quite match the color proof but the sky is blue and the grass is green…. chances are it’s commercially acceptable and you’ve bought it. If you can’t live with that, don’t publish.”

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