You've put in the hours or, more realistically, weeks, months, or even years of creating your masterpiece. Writing, rewriting, editing, and rewriting some more, followed by layout, design, copyediting, proofing, and the countless small tasks involved in preparing your book for publication are finally behind you. Now your book is done, and the publication date lies ahead. You heave a sigh of relief and savour this triumph. Then it hits youI have to sell this thing! For some writers, finishing the book alone is enough. And it's true, writing a book is a laudable accomplishment on its own. Bask in that triumph! But, for most authors, the desire to be read is almost as fierce as the desire to write. Chances are you're hoping to reach audiences beyond just your friends and family. However, the quickest glance at any bookstore or online retailer shows a market absolutely saturated with self-published works. In recent years, the number of self-published books has exceeded on...

Self-publishing has revolutionized the way we read, write, and shop for books. According to some estimates, over a million books were self-published in 2017 in the United States alone, a trend that continues at a breakneck rate. Trends in the Australian publishing market tend to follow those in the rest of the English-speaking world, meaning more and more authors in Australia are turning to online book publishing to get their words and ideas out into the world. And yet, despite these fundamental changes across the industry, the traditional model of publishing still endures. So, why are so many authors of all genres, backgrounds, and industries choosing to self-publish their books instead? There are many benefits to self-publishing your next project. Here are just a few. You're in control. Traditional publishers typically wield final say over every step of the publishing process and book creation: marketing, jacket design, editingeven the title. By the time the fin...

For a great many years, the sharing of stories, mythology, fables and legends has helped to create and maintain the unique cultures all over the world.  Over time, these stories have been passed down from grandparents to parents to children, and this has always been an important way to preserve culture and heritage.  We can see very early evidence of this in rock paintings by indigenous people around the world. Effectively, fairy tales and nursery rhymes serve the same purpose. As time goes on, new stories and memories continue to be created. This is often true when a family leaves their country of origin and move elsewhere in the world. Their children are brought up as "locals" and can sadly lose the essence of the own culture and heritage. Whilst integrating into your new homeland and the local culture is important, it is just as important for your kids to have some kind of connection to their country of origin; be it by birth or family heritage. Man...

Savvy self-published authors understand that publishing their book is just the start of their journey. Most authors have written and published their book with the intent of it being read. They usually have an idea about who they wrote it for (the target audience), but effectively sharing the fact that their professional quality ebook exists is the purpose of book marketing/publicity. Sometimes your affordable book publishing service will be able to organise book marketing/publicity support for you, just as they would with book cover designs and their book typesetting service. But often authors will need to either source their own book publicist or look after these functions themselves. The place to begin, when creating your marketing and publicity plan, is with determining your target reader audience and where to reach them. For example, if you have published a children's book, you will promote it very differently than a business book. Whether available via Print on Dem...