Publishing a Book with Cafe Press
Let’s just start off this review by stating that you shouldn’t publish a book with Cafe Press. Of course, this depends on your overall plans for the book – but if you’re serious about marketing a book, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, Cafe Press is not a place to publish your book. Even if you’re looking for a free self-publishing service, Cafe Press is not necessarily the right choice when compared to other self-publishers.
The closest comparison to Cafe Press is Lulu – as writers can upload a book and cover and order one book at a time, rather […]
Creating a self-publishing imprint can reduce the stigma of self-releasing your own book. Instead of having your book on one of the major self-publishing sites (Lulu, AuthorHouse), you can instead choose to print up your books independently under your own company brand. Alternately, you could use a major self-publisher like Lulu to handle the printing and processing of your book and create your own separate imprint – possibly with its own website and list of authors. A self-publishing imprint really depends on how it’s marketed: as an independent entity or part of a larger self-publishing site.
There’s a phenomenon particular to the arts, where people don’t realize their degree of talent. Call this the American Idol phenomenon. On the first few shows of American Idol, people gawk and laugh at the contestants who have so little clue how little talent they actually have. Self-publishing is full of the same types of writers. (Note: this is not in reference to anyone who has contacted the site, so don’t be worried).
Self-publishing seems to be a place that is tailor made for scam artists. The combination of money changing hands and people desperate to see their name in print can lead to writers being taken advantage of. On forums you can read about people gleefully saying, “I got published!” only to find out that they were contacted by a site like Publish American saying that they’ll put out a book. Publish America – one of the least scrupulous self-publishers – begins correspondence using words like “Congratulations!!!” knowing full-well that this will dupe people into thinking they’ve been selected by a traditional […]
