Author: Sandra Herner February 15, 2018

You no sooner start to look for help in self-publishing and–Wow!—someone wants to help you! All you do is pay them a fee and they’ll do everything for you to be a #1 bestselling success.

Sound too good to be true? Sadly, most likely it is.

My previous article examined how to find legitimate traditional publishers. In this article, I’ll examine the steps to help you avoid scam artists in the self-publishing arena.

The Extremes of Services Available

Self-publishing is a huge business and writers can go from one extreme to another: doing everything in the process themselves or having a service do it all for them.

Maybe you need a cover made or don’t want to deal with distribution. Fine. There are also legitimate companies out there with those services available.

However, there are who want to sell you the moon only to leave you with a shattered dream and empty pocket. So what do you want or need to pay for? That is up to you.

How to Research Self-publishing Companies and Services:

If you are looking for a service that provides anything from full self-publishing services to ala cart services, consider these factors:

What are Their Fees:

Let’s get right to the nitty-gritty:

What are their fees? Fees are fine, but only if they are clear about what is covered. For instance:

• Are there reading fees charged? Then forget them. A self-publishing service has no creative control over your material. So they should not need to read your manuscript. Forget them.
• Are there editing fees? Remember there are several forms of editing. Developmental editing helps you structure and write the book as a whole, its plot, characterization, etc. Copy editing is for spelling, grammar, etc. If you need any form of editing, you could get the same service elsewhere. How would the fees compare?
• Are there ebook conversion or formatting fees? Compare their fees to individual services that do only conversions.
• Are there fees to list your book on Amazon or other venues? There shouldn’t be at all! Anyone can list a book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and most other e-book venues for free.
• What DO their fees cover? You should compare each service they offer to what you could get this done for if commissioned separately.

Contact Their Authors

A publishing service provider will show you examples of their work, with testimonials and/or images of the books they’ve helped authors self-publish. From these, you can contact the authors directly and ask their experiences.

If you find contact information for one of their client authors on the service provider’s website, great—use it. If not, poke around the Internet with that author’s name and see what information is available. One key ingredient in publishing success is an online presence and fan base. Which means an author needs to have a website or blog, maybe Twitter or FaceBook accounts.

When you find contact information, write a brief and polite email to the author and ask their experiences with that publishing service and if they would recommend them.

Buy the Book

Find a couple of books that were produced by that self-publishing service and that fit your genre. Buy or download one of their books.  Or contact the provider and request a sample.

Read it, look at the quality of the paper, the cover, the presentation. How clean is it in grammar and technical issues? If this service had said it provided copy editing and/or interior formatting, and you find these a problem in the book, then this shows they don’t really deliver as promised.

Years ago, I contacted a few printing services and asked for book samples.

Afterwards, I thought, “Heck, they’ll only send me good ones anyway.” Actually, they all sent several samples, and a couple of the companies sent books that were horribly produced and full of printing errors, like mismatched or missing pages. And they sent THESE as examples of their quality? Obviously, quality was not part of their package!

YOUR  DECISION

Yes, there are all kinds of scams out there ready to jump on the wanna-be published writer. Yet there are many fine and dependable resources and services as well. They are there to help fill the needs of writers who are not tech-savvy or are uncomfortable with part of the self-publishing process.

Take the time to research the various ways of self-publishing before you commit to buying into a promise too good to be true.

After your research, if you are still uncertain about one of the services you are considering, email them and ask a specific question. Be brief and polite and see what kind of response you get. Is it a hard sell pitch or an open evaluation of your question with a solid answer? That, alone, may tell you all you need to know.

Remember:

• The key to feeling successful at writing is sharing what you write.
• The key to sharing is getting published.
• Don’t let the complexities of getting published be a barrier to sharing your stories.
• Do your research, make a plan on how YOU want to go.
• Then go for it!

Advanced Notice:

I am about to launch my book “How to Publish a Novel or Series: Find a publisher or self-publish? Essential guide to help you decide.”

It reveals publishing options to help writers determine, for themselves, the best approach for their specific needs, budget, and preferences.

I will be offering a limited number of free Advanced Review Copies.

Interested? Email me now!!