Henry Baum | Self-Publishing Review

About Henry Baum

Author of three self-published novels and one traditionally published (Soft Skull Press, Canongate, and Hachette Littératures). Recipient of Best Fiction at the DIY Book Festival, the Gold IPPY Award for Visionary Fiction, and the Hollywood Book Festival Grand Prize. He lives with his wife Cate Baum in Spain. He's the founder of SPR.

iUniverse Review

Frankly, I’m surprised that so many self-publishers use a service like iUniverse. I’m an advocate of using a self-publisher that doesn’t call attention to the fact that it’s a self-publisher. Though many people familiar with self-publishing immediately know the difference between iUniverse, AuthorHouse, Lulu, and so on, there are many more people who do not know the difference – especially readers who are not also writers.

Your least savvy reader is going to know that a publishing entity called iUniverse is not your typical press. It has something to do with printing a book via a computer. Right off, […]

Henry Baum2011-10-17T04:11:09+02:00May 5th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|

How Much Does it Cost to Self-Publish?

This recent opinion post about writers who can “get away with” not hiring an editor if the book is interesting enough brings up an important topic: how much should self-publishers look to spend on releasing a book. That post may make it seem like it’s justifying poor editing. This is not the case at all. It’s more to suggest to readers that they should perhaps be more lenient of self-published titles given the enormous expense of getting a book properly edited.

The problem with this stance is that it will cause people take self-publishing less seriously. If people are reading […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:28:45+02:00May 5th, 2009|Categories: Resources|

The Trouble With Being God by William Aicher

The set-up for The Trouble with Being God is pretty enticing. On the back of the book is a reader review, stating, “It’s not often that a book can keep you so interested and make you think, You know I’ve never really looked at it like that.” The dedication inside reads, “For my wife, Hope, who was so disturbed by the book that she still has not been able to read the entire thing.” Finally, on William Aicher’s site for the book is a list of suggested reading, which includes many of the recent non-fiction tomes on atheism.

Put […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:57:24+02:00May 4th, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Reading a Writer's First Draft

This may fly in the face of what’s normally said about self-publishing, and even lose the site some credibility. People often implore writers to hire an editor to go through a book before releasing it. Of course, this makes sense and every writer should do it. But one of the major advantages of self-publishing is that it is a more democratic process: everyone can find readership and no one is boxed out of the opportunity. And given the high cost of hiring an editor, this cuts into one of self-publishing’s major advantages.

For a typical novel, the cost of hiring […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:57:37+02:00May 4th, 2009|Categories: Features|

The Changing Face of Publication

Cross-Posted from Christopher Meeks’ blog on Red Room.

Last night I attended a panel at USC entitled “The Changing Face of Publication,” hosted by one of my favorite novelists, Gina Nahai (Cry of the Peacock). The five panelists, with five different jobs and all deeply involved in publishing, offered a view on how publishing is done now and where the industry is and is not going.

The latter was the most important, which, to authors reading this, may change your view of what you can expect in 2009. It certainly sobered my expectations in publishing. From my own […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:57:51+02:00May 4th, 2009|Categories: Features|

There is an Answer: Living in a Post-Apocalyptic World by Candace Frazee

It would be impossible to review this book without mentioning two things: the Bunny Museum and a bit about Emmanuel Swedenborg, the focus of this book. Candace Frazee who wrote this book is a true L.A. eccentric. She runs the Bunny Museum in Pasadena, CA – listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the largest collection of bunny paraphernalia. The story goes that Candace Frazee’s husband bought her a stuffed bunny as a present and their collection was built and built from there.

From the site: “The 1928, Spanish stucco, Pasadena home of Candace Frazee and Steve […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:58:20+02:00May 1st, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Darc Ages by A.R. Yngve

Guest reviewed by Susan Helene Gottfried, a writer interested in music-related self-published books. She’s the author of Shapeshifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 1: “A band’s demo tape is intended to introduce listeners to their music. Likewise, this collection of short pieces allows readers into the fictional world of Trevor Wolff and his band, ShapeShifter.” Check out her books and other output at WestofMars.com.

What’s not to love about a book whose concept is that a man from the past, cryogenically frozen to thwart cancer, is thawed out and becomes the hero of the ages, a rock star […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:58:35+02:00April 29th, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Interview: Keith Harmeyer on Writing Commercials and Promoting Commercial Break

Keith Harmeyer is the author of the immensely entertaining novel Commercial Break. He has the unique perspective of being a self-published writer who has also worked in book marketing. He shares his experiences with marketing his novel and other people’s books.

Self-Publishing Review: Adam Glassman is a frustrated novelist working in the ad game. You’re a person who worked in advertising who wrote a novel. Is this a novel you thought for years about writing while you were in the business?

Keith Harmeyer: It is. I’m not sure exactly when the concept first came to me; but at some […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:14:34+02:00April 27th, 2009|Categories: Interviews|