Have you ever wanted to write a book, but didn't know how to get it published? The easiest way to publish it is to do it yourself--just like the writers did who are behind the phenomenally successful Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

In this guide, you learn how to publish books, market them, get repeat business, manage your business finances and much more. We interview many people out there on the front lines of the industry--all around the country–-to learn the nitty-gritty, hands-on tasks, tips and tricks to successful self-publishing. We set aside places for them to tell their own stories and give their own hard-won advice. Order it, and see for yourself why it’s the self-publisher’s best friend.

Chapter 1

Self-publishing is a hot industry today and growing hotter all the time. New publishers as well as new services for self-publishers and authors are springing up all over the country. Everybody, from writing stars like Stephen King to publishing powerhouses like Random House, is rushing to join the new generation of independent publishers.

Despite the proliferation of movies, TV programs and videos with which we find ourselves surrounded, Americans read books—a lot of books. According to a recent Gallup survey, the average Jane and John read more than five times as many books per year now than they did a decade ago—about 17 to 20 volumes in a 12-month period. Book consumers eagerly gobble up everything from nonfiction recipes for improving health, wealth and spirituality to sci-fi. Cruise the aisles of any book emporium and you will find cookbooks, travel tomes, car repair manuals, mysteries, Westerns, advice for the lovelorn, astrology, Christian ethics, kids’ tales, business guides, biographies and much, much more. “We are a nation hungry for information,” says Marilyn Ross, an early proponent of self-publishing and co-founder and executive director of SPAN, the Small Publishers Association of North America.