The Book Marketing Network

For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers

This post is to present some charts that might (Or NOT) help unsnarl the bewildering arena of self-publishing...or at least be a step towards the individual understanding writers need before making critical decisions on what to do with their work.

This chart is like Step 1, a quickie attempt to clarify the spectrum of publishing options available. So many people think you either get picked up by Doubleday or slouch off to "vanity presses" (and that POD is a synomym for said). I've tried to show various approaches a writer can take, and hopefully there is something there for everybody. I welcome any additions, corrections, or criticisms of this chart.

Range of Publishing Options

Okay, so what if you think you're best served by a POD "publishing service" like lulu or iUniverse or.... like I said, bewildering thicket of choices. This is a rapidly changing landscape and no guide will be complete, but the two here should be a big help in sorting things out, at least to make a start.

List from POD.net

This is a much more comprehensive chart, though necessarily somewhat incomplete and outdated. But perhaps the best one available on the net. A really big, hard-won layout.

Books And Tales POD Chart

Books and Tales also has a great forum on POD presses: you can see posts from users of each press, and comments by the press owners (in a seperate thread) a HUGE help to POD shoppers.

Books And Tales POD Forum


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Replies to This Discussion

Since when does Lulu charge for publishing? I self-published a few years ago on the site and the only charge I had was for my isbn. I see on the listing you have a $99.95 charge for paperbacks to be published. Is this a new thing? I'm just curious because I really thought Lulu was a good place to be for small things - that you don't really care if only your family purchases or anything - lol - see you all in the postings - E :)
Thanks Elysabeth, I'll look into that for my own curiosity. (Obviously the books&tales chart is beyond my control) I think the issue might be having an ISBN and the book in stores.
My ISBN was only like $34.95 and again, it was several years ago - 2003 I think. I haven't checked the site out much of late because I've been busy with writing short stories and now am working on a children's geography series that I need to get a move on to write - lol -

I know that since I self-published on Lulu in 2003 that when you purchase the ISBN you get listed on amazon.com and barnes and noble's sites for a year as well as in several search engines. When I did mine, that option wasn't even available so I didn't get listed on amazon.com.

I also remember that when I was there all those years ago, you could purchase like a marketing plan for about $99.95 but that was optional. No charges to place your items on the site to be published other than the ISBN. There were several options available and that may be what the cost on the list is.

I wasn't displeased with Lulu, just haven't had time to do anything else for self-publishing right now. Thanks for checking into this - E :)

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