Self-Publishing Books 101: A Step-by-Step Guide to Publishing Your Book in Multiple Formats (Author 101 Series) Paperback – May 5, 2014

Shelley Hitz and Heather Hart have co-authored “Self-Publishing Books 101: A Step-by-Step Guide to Publishing Your Book in Multiple Formats.” Hitz and Hart are business partners and make a living by helping authors to write, publish and market their books.“Self-Publishing Books 101” is available on Amazon in two formats -- Kindle (for free) and paperback ($9.95). I’m a newcomer to the world of Kindle and recently discovered that many Kindle books are available for free. I also began self-publishing my own Kindle books recently. So when I saw this book, I snatched it up. Can’t beat that price!Sadly, many free Kindle books are virtually worthless. It’s easy to find freebies that shouldn’t even be out there. But that is not the case with “Self-Publishing Books 101.” I like this book for several reasons. The first is this: Hitz and Hart are offering a quality book. It’s not a thinly disguised sales letter, as Kindle freebies often are. It is jam-packed with good content and could easily be sold for $5 or $10.Kindle books are usually free for a limited time because Amazon has a program called KDP Select that allows authors to reduce the price to zero for up to 5 days every 3 months. But “Self-Publishing Books 101” is what is known as a “permafree” book – it is always free. So I commend the authors for setting an example for all writers – regardless of genre, if you’re an author and want to offer a book for free, do what these women have done – give us a book that could be sold -- a real book. Don’t clutter the marketplace with garbage.The second reason I like this book is because the content is excellent. The book does what the title tells you it will do – provide a thorough introduction to the world of self-publishing. There are three sections: Part 1, Foundation for Publishing Success, covers the initial steps of writing, editing and marketing a book. Part 2, Self-Publishing Your Book, is the heart of the book and deals with cover design issues and the various types of book formats – print, ebooks, audio books and foreign language translations. Part 3, Other Publishing Decisions, finishes with chapters on obtaining a copyright, forming an independent publishing company (if you are so inclined) and a nice summary chapter that recaps the entire book.This book presents a comprehensive overview of self-publishing. Even though I’ve self-published five Kindle books over the past six months, I still consider myself a newbie with much to learn. This book filled in many gaps for me. So whether you are brand new to self-publishing or have some experience, this book will enable you to see the big picture of a rapidly growing industry.Another reason I like this book is because it is well written. Both Hitz and Hart are gifted writers with the ability to provide plain English explanations. The book flows nicely from chapter to chapter. It is logically organized. And I like that every topic is explained thoroughly; repeatedly you’ll find links to additional resources.The final reason I recommend this book is because it is written by two people who have achieved great success in the self-publishing business. Hitz is a prolific author with 35 books to her credit. Hart has also written several books. If you want to learn how to write, publish and market your own books, Hitz and Hart can help you. This book is a wonderful way to begin your training, and you’ll do well to check out the plethora of resources these women offer at www.trainingauthors.com and www.ShelleyHitz.com.If you are new to self-publishing and need direction on how to get started, this book is a great place to start. Without reservation, I give it 5 stars. You won’t find a better introduction to self-publishing, for free or at any price.

Most of the reviews for this book are great. Mine is too. The man who wrote that this book deserves 1 star, was a jerk. There is a lot of advertising web sites and web sites to find info, but for the new author, or the first time author, writing a book, like me.......This is a wonderful help. I bought mine on Kindle, but I would advise you to purchase one in print, as you will refer to it over and over again, and that is difficult to do on Kindle. I will buy more books by these 2 authors. Good book!!! Bettylee

If you're thinking about self-publishing a book, start by buying this book. Author Shelley Hitz walks you through the whole process with logical, easy to follow help for each step. Her approach is thorough and simple, and in the end she makes you believe you can actually write and publish a book of your own.The real value of this book, though, does not lie in the fact that you get a lot of information for a little money. It is in the enormous amount of information she makes available to her readers on her website and in her free email Newsletter. At the end of the book, she provides links to articles and resources on her website.In short, the book is inexpensive, but the extra information she provides is priceless. If you're interested in self-publishing, do yourself a favor. Buy this book.

This book is great. I've always thought of writing a book but figured I could never afford to do so. With this book I have no doubt I could do it now. WOW!! The information is wonderful and chaulked full of great ideas and links to help you get from beginning to end.If you ever wanted to publish a book, but like me didn't think you could, this book will help you make it happen and it's so easy and so little cost I was amazed. I have so many ideas running through my head right now I don't know what I want to do first.Shelley, this is a definite winner. Congratulations and great work.Please note: I recieved a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book was a good start to a long journey.

Shelley's book has been very helpful for me in planning how to go live with my mostly-written first Kindle book.It's filled with great advice and much appreciated examples of things like phrasing for requesting reviews at the back of the book, how to pick which category to put your book in, the benefits of a free book (like this is in Kindle format!), and much more.I'm looking forward to reading more books in her series to get even more fantastic knowledge to make my book a success.

Normally I don't write book reviews, but this book forces me to. This is a total waste of time. The book makes about a dozen points. Each of them is repeated about a half-dozen times in only 48 pages, first in the introduction, then in the text, then in a bullet list, and finally in a summary "Nutshell" concluding chapter. It is full of blatant self promotion for the author and for Create Space.What really hurts is that the book is poorly designed and written. The cover is obviously from a plain, stock template. The interior type is too large (probably to increase the page count). I read the book in a couple of hours, with many distractions. I was stopped on numerous occasions by nonsensical paragraphs, and errors.The author claims that you can publish a book in a week, for free. This one might might not even have taken that much time.If you want to find the shortest path to seeing your name on Amazon, this is the book for you. If you care about the quality of what you publish, then probably not.