Choosing the right vehicle to self-publishing a book should be given serious consideration. There are so many self-publishing options available today that it can be either a blessing or a hassle to pick the right one. Hopefully, you’ll begin to have a better understanding from this moment forward.

I mustn’t assume that everyone reading this has a finished manuscript in their hand, so I’ll start from the beginning; the writing process. If you have completed your book, then you might want to return a few posts down the road.

First, I’m going to shamelessly present you with some clichés. Cliché #1: ‘In order to win a war, you must put boots on the ground‘. One might think that in this age of high-tech warfare, you just send in the drones. However, a well-waged war depends as much on winning the peace as on fighting the enemy. If you do not win the peace, you will continue to have hostilities. Alan Boyle’s article, The High’s and Lows of High-Tech Warfare looks at some of the effects of technology of war.

Writing a book, for e (electronic) publishing or otherwise has many similarities to the scenario just described. For many authors, writing a book is much like fighting a war. Second cliché: ‘In order to write a book, you must put butts in the chair‘. I’ll give you a real-life example.

I have a relative who came across some important, fascinating and yet-unpublished historic information while traveling through a mid-western state of America. When he returned to Los Angeles, he told me the story and said that he was going to write a book about what he had learned. He had met an old man in his 90’s who was eye-witness to certain events that changed the culture of that and surrounding states.

My relative wanted to do an in-depth interview of the old man, who agreed to passing on his knowledge. So, he returned with a notebook and tape recorder and did the interview. The old man died soon thereafter, but fortunately his memories had been preserved.

As months turned into years, I asked my relative how things were progressing on his book. He always had one excuse after another about why the book had not been developed beyond his original notes. The truth was, he didn’t put his butt in a chair to write the book

I should stop writing for now so you can put your butt in a chair and start/continue writing.

Self publishing to be continued in part 2.