Self-Publishing with CreateSpace

Today’s Ask Dr. Diane: I am interested in self-publishing a book. Can you tell me about your experience with self-publishing and things you have done to market your books?

That is a good question and one that I often receive. Check out my previous posting: How to Publish or Self-Publish Your Book. I used Createspace for self-publishing. I had a great experience with them. They are affiliated with Amazon. The site offers different options based on authors’ needs. Some of those options included:

Do-it-yourself tools to design interiors and covers
Comprehensive design and editing
Expanded distribution options

I found that the company was very responsive to my questions. They took my design ideas and gave me a couple of covers to choose from based on my input.

Createspace is not limited to book publishing. They also work with musicians and filmmakers.

Once your book is published, and available on Amazon, you will then have the ability to create an Amazon author page. That author page can incorporate links from your blog. Authors also have the option of making their books available on Amazon’s Europe-based site.

There are plenty of books that can help increase your sales on Amazon’s site. One book that I thought was pretty useful was: Aiming at Amazon.

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FREE Site PitchEngine: Get the Word out About Your Products or Company

Are you using Pitchengine to get the word out? If not you should be. PitchEngine was has been around since 2008. This site is for businesses and journalists in need of a better alternative to email for exchanging information and assets for publication and print. Unlike traditional wire services, PitchEngine enabled users to openly create and share their own content, while including images, videos and attachments FREE for 30 days with other plans offered for a monthly fee. According to their site: In 2009, more than 70,000 pitches were shared by 27,000 organizations looking to get the word out to not just journalists, but to bloggers, consumers and other influencers as well. It’s easy to design your message. They liken it to being as simple as filling out a Facebook page. You can add your pictures, videos or attachments. After publishing, you can easily share your pitch with your friends and followers through your social networks, email and other methods. Once your message is published, journalists, bloggers and other readers can direct-message you privately to ask questions or give suggestions. And, you can track your pitch with our Google Analytics integration. Some of the companies using their service include: Zappos, Olive Garden, Mattel, Cisco, IBM, Xerox, British Airways, Lowe’s, Yamaha and more.