Self-publishing phenomenon have a name: Kevin Weiss. He is president and chief executive of Author Solutions, which owns numerous self-publishing companies, including iUniverse, AuthorHouse and Xlibris. He explains the success of self-publishing to Alina Tugend (New York Times).

Self-publishing is a mega trend

As expert of self-publishing, Mr. Weiss said his company was on track to publish 26,000 new books this year, compared with 13,000 four years ago. CreateSpace, the self-publishing arm of Amazon.com, doesn’t release numbers, but a spokeswoman, Brittany Turner, told me in an e-mail that its books increased by 80 percent from 2009 to 2010.
 

Why self-publishing?

There are many reasons potential authors want to do self-publishing, Mr. Weiss said:
– they have an idea or manuscript they have passed around to various agents and publishers with no luck;
– they may just want to print a few copies of, say, a memoir for family members;
– they want to use it in their business as a type of calling card;
– or they actually want to sell a lot of books and make their living as writers.

How to do self-publishing?

If you’re technologically comfortable, Lulu.com or CreateSpace may be good options to do self-publishing.
CreateSpace, for example, doesn’t charge upfront fees, but you’ll pay if you want additional services like copy editing and design layout. And it costs $5 to $10 for the printed proof.

On the other hand, iUniverse and AuthorHouse offer what Mr. Weiss called “assisted self-publishing.” But the price of that assistance can range widely, starting as low as $400 and going as high as $15,000.

Self-publishing links

– CreateSpace – “put creativity to work” (VIDEO);
– Author Solutions self-publishing – “The world leader in the fastest growing segment of publishing”.
– iUniverse – “Self Publishing Company”.

This article is a SEO test of Cynthia Hyatt  & staff, about self-publishing.