I frequently publish book reviews on my personal website; on this site, I only intend to publish reviews of books which I consider useful resources for self-publishing authors and micro-press publishers.
I want to recommend one book to you which I found extremly helpful when I self-published my first book in 2014: April L. Hamilton’s “the indie author guide. self-publishing strategies anyone can use.” I own a copy of the book’s first edition, which was published in 2010. You can purchase paperback copies or e-books of the 2nd edition. e.g., at Barnes & Noble.
Penguin Random House owns the rights to this book, and on their website you can click on links to several different retail outlets which sell it.
I reviewed this book in 2016 on the “Goodreads”-website, after I self-published the 2nd edition of “The Vegan Tourist: Vienna,” and re-published my review on my personal website in 2025. I found the book helpful then, and ten years later, I still do.
Even though the book was published more than 15 years ago, it contains information about self-publishing which continues to be relevant today, e.g., about brand creation, author platforms, book cover design, or print-on-demand manuscript formatting. (I find the information about the creation of chapter shells and manuscript shells especially helpful.) The book also provides general information about publishing options.
I don’t find the need to buy more recently published books about self-publishing; these days, all the print-on-demand platforms provide a wealth of free information about their services, and Hamilton’s book provides the reader with a good understanding of the self-publishing process as a whole.
One caveat, though: Don’t try to access the URL-address provided in the book’s 1st edition. The author no longer owns the rights to the name of this website, and the URL was snatched up by another company; you’ll end up on a site which promotes adult entertainment. The book’s publisher, F+W Media, Inc., also no longer exists. The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2019; Penguin Random House bought its book publishing assets.