About the Author

Barry Hurd is a social media consultant educating business owners to understand emerging social media tools and the promotional trends around them. This includes services such as Google, YouTube, Linkedin, and Twitter on topics ranging from search engine optimization, online reputation control, and strategic public relations.

Self Publishing for Entrepreneurs

March 3rd, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

First off, I am a big fan of self-publishing. Everyone has something to say, and if you know how to reach out into a worldwide audience there is someone who wants to hear you say it. Blogging and online publication makes some authors happy, our staff has personally reached hundreds of thousands of readers over the years, but I know that some writers just don’t feel like a real “author” until they can hold a physical book and pass it out to friends. Technology gives us a few options -

There isn’t any need to keep hundreds of dusty books laying around anymore, only a need to have your information packaged and published when someone is interested in buying it.

A lot of writers don’t realize exactly what “print on demand” or “POD” is.

Per wikipedia “Print on demand with digital technology is used as a way of printing items for a fixed cost per copy, irrespective of the size of the order. While the unit price of each physical copy printed is higher than with offset printing, when setup costs are taken into account digital print on demand provides lower per unit costs for very small print runs than offset printing methods.

While the unit cost of a book or print produced using POD is usually higher than one produced as part of a longer print run, POD does bring some key business benefits: 1) large inventories of a book or print do not need to be kept in stock, 2) the technical set-up is usually quicker and less expensive than for offset printing and 3) there is little or no waste from unsold products. These advantages reduce the risks associated with publishing books and prints and can lead to increased choice for consumers. However, the reduced risks for the publisher can also mean that quality control is less rigorous than usual.”

So the end result is this- if you are an author, artist, or musician- basically anyone who wants to share what you know, you can utilize POD by taking on the duty of being your own publisher, editor, publicist, and marketer.

123 Social Media helps cover many of those roles, especially if you are willing to learn and share.

If you fall into the author category and want to know how to publish yourself, here are some items you can look at more closely:

REAL WORLD PRINT ON DEMAND

Cafepress and Lulu are both print on demand services that allow you to take a book and have it instantly printed, the same day, and have it shipped out to your readers.

CafePress.com - has the ability to create dozens of different printed items on demand. Everything from books to clothing, from audio cds to bumper stickers. They have a fairly active community of users that have detailed out many different ways of self-publishing different materials and also an active “shopping area”. For a modest fee of about $10 a month, you can also get a completely self branded shopping site to carry your products and handle all the transaction.

Lulu.com - is very similar to CafePress, but focuses more on book publishing. They also have a greater variety of book options, including full color photographic books such as portfolio collections or wedding keepsakes.

ONLINE AUTHORSHIP

For some authors, you may simply want to get more exposure for your writing and thoughts. For that purpose, you may just look at taking pieces of your current content and using them within other online communities. Two such communities are Squidoo, Gather, and Associated Content. Each of these sites has significant traffic, and can help serve as a promotional method for exposing a community to your written information.

Squidoo - Highlight books, blogs, vids, online shops, or just spread the word about stuff you love. Bonus: you raise money (for you or charity) at the same time. It’s fast, free, and super easy.

Associated Content - Associated Content is a platform that enables everyone to publish their content in any format on any topic and then distributes that content to engaged audiences through its website and content partners. Those who contribute to Associated Content’s ad-supported collection of original text, video, audio and images gain exposure and often earn cash for their participation.

Gather - Gather is a place for you to connect with people who share your passions. It’s a place where you can contribute thought, art, commentary, or inspiration.

ONLINE WRITING/REVIEW COMMUNITIES

Some of us just need help breaking out of a shell and “putting ourselves out there”

This is a list of communities that revolve more around helping you learn to be a better writer, whether that entails improving your English skills or focusing on getting published by a mainstream firm. Conversing with like-minded souls who are facing similar problems is an easy way to learn from community experts.

TAKE IT ALL ONLINE!

If you haven’t realized it yet, or if this is your first article - you can also use social media (blogging, online communities, etc) and services here at 123 Social Media to help vault into success. Try joining our social media community and partaking in the conversation.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.