The Well-Fed Self-Publisher
by Peter Bowerman
Published by Fanove Publishing
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cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Diane Keyes
Subtitled: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living
Author Peter Bowerman skillfully manages to combine serious business advice with a highly readable and entertaining style. Filled with more information than a reader could possibly digest in a single read, as well as an excellent index and appendixes, this is a superb reference manual and should occupy a revered place in the bookcase of any self-motivated self-publisher.
I use the word self-motivated purposefully. If you're unwilling to do the work to market your product, reading this book may make you feel like a slug, since once you have the source for nearly unlimited ways to sell your book, it becomes very difficult to rationalize not selling it.
Sincere, self-interest prompted me to read this book to find out if I have what it takes to self-publish a book-and having read it, I'm still not sure. Nevertheless, I now know that if I am reluctant to do the work necessary to market a book there is no reason other than ego to publish it.
Most often I am napping by the first chapter of most serious business books, I found Bowerman's style engaging and conversational, and could easily hang. More often than not, I stopped reading because it generated so many ideas for my own book that I had circuit overload.
Written with a generous spirit, the author unselfishly includes many references for other books and websites that could be of additional value to the reader. In today's cynical world, where no one gives anyone else a break without there being something in it for them--this adds significantly to this author's credibility for me because it demonstrates how sure he is of himself and his topic.
Lest you think Bowerman is a bit too Pollyanna, I'd like to point out that he is shamelessly self-promotional, so much so that his continuing plugs for his previous book The Well Fed Writer, Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less had me running to the bookstore. I figure if I can find out if I can become a self-sufficient freelance writer in six months I probably have what it takes to market a book.
Armchair Interviews says: If you are writing a book, you need to know what the future demands of you in marketing, etc.--and this book tells you.