I have never been a fan of self-publishing, particularly for authors who have never sold a book to a publisher, be that an e-publisher or one of the more traditional publishers.
First, there is a very great likelihood that no one wanted to publish that book for very good reasons. A bad book will do nothing for your career; in fact, it will hurt your career.
Second, getting a book published and promoted is time and energy consuming so much less time will be available to write and improve your craft. If your book is bad, any readers you get will be much less likely to buy your next book.
Third, only a very few authors make money at self-publishing, a much smaller percentage are very successful, and most lose money.
But, if you do decide that self-publishing may be for you, you must educate yourself. Here is a good starting place to learn more.
First, the definitions--
SELF-PUBLISHING: The author must find a printer, editor, etc., and must pay for each service, then must find the distribution services, as well. All profit goes to the author.
SELF-PUBLISHING THROUGH A ONE-STOP PRINTER OR E-PUBLISHING SERVICE: Some printers offer all the services necessary to publish a book. Each service is paid by the author. All profit goes to the author.
VANITY/SUBSIDY PRESS: They offer all the services necessary to publish a book like the one-stop printer. You can buy in for the basic service, then you can add on various services like editing, cover art, etc. The vanity/subsidy press, however, then takes a large cut of the profit with no risk or cost to itself. Often, it will tie up your rights so you can never publish it elsewhere.
In other words, avoid vanity/subsidy services at all costs.
SELF-PUBLISHING RESOURCES: Links to some excellent books and websites on self-publishing.
EBOOK SERVICES DIRECTORY: Go here and click on the eBook Service Directory icon on the right.
ARTICLES ON SPECIFICS OF SELF-PUBLISHING
BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: Some of the dangers of self-publishing to an author’s career.
EBOOK FORMATS AND READERS: A primer on the ePub format standard and how to transfer an epub book into your ereader.
BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: How self-publishing a book can hurt you if it was given an ISBN.
WHY SELF-PUBLISHING BOOKS CAN BE A BAD THING FOR YOUR CAREER:
THE MIDLIST WRITER AND CHANGING TIMES:
FORMATTING EBOOKS IN VARIOUS FORMATS:
PUBLISHING: To self-publish or not.
HYPE AND SELF-PUBLISHING: Overview of some of the nonsense being written about the ebook self-publishing market.
SELF-PUBLISHING: Via the Kindle, an agent's POV.
Part 1
Part 2
SELF-PUBLISHING OVERVIEW: Two well-thought-out overviews on self-publishing.
