Comments on: 7 Self-Publish Websites to Jumpstart Your Travel Publishing Career

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:09:00 +0000

Great post! I just recently caught on to the feasibility of self-publishing.

By: Léazz

Léazz — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:55:05 +0000

Hi, guess this post was 2008 and here i am one year later commenting. Anyhow, i have just self published my children’s book thru Lulu and am waiting anxiously for my hard copy. Léa from Singapore

By: Chloe

Chloe — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:31:54 +0000

Does anyone know of any self publishing sites that let you print on recycled paper? Looking for places more like LULU with minimal up front costs.

By: Louise Brown

Louise Brown — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:23:44 +0000

Yeah I have. I know that they publish any kind of crap that you throw at them. I had to review a couple of their crap books for my old job, it was awful. I refuse to read anything published by this company.

By: Pamela Ann Cruthis

Pamela Ann Cruthis — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:22:43 +0000

I have a question for you, does anyone know information about PublishAmerica Publisher’s? Any experiences you like to share?
I have one book, I published with them. The royalities aren’t that great. The checks I’ve received from sells, are only from the UK.
My book is World-Wide, and I only get paid from sells from one Country! This doesn’t make sense to me at all.
I’ve had book signing events with ” Waldenbooks Stores ” In which they sponsered me. They bought the copies to sell, not only for the signings.
But they have my book on thier shelves to sell. What wrong with this picture? Does anyone know how I can find out more about the other sells in the USA?
I welcome your comments if you like to e-mail me. I would love to know what you have to say. Right now, I’m working on my second book of poetry.
But I don’t think, I’ll be choosing them to publish this time. Anyone know of a great Publisher I can contact?
Thank-you all for your time and interests with my questions and comments.

Pamela

By: Andy Ciordia

Andy Ciordia — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:03:12 +0000

Growing as a publisher, next steps? So I’ve made a few books from travel, portfolios, to wedding albums but I’m ready to tackle my first large product. Building a photo essay book chronicling the world food stage that surrounds Terra Madre in Italy. Now I have a good idea of the subject matter, and how I will be capturing it, but how to bring it to market has me a bit perplexed. I can do all my own work, layout, and designs.

Should I shift into LuLu and be a step up from Blurb’s market-ability, or do I need to go higher and find a publisher? Does anyone have tips on what rings I should be climbing for largest exposure/gain?

By: Amanda Kendle

Amanda Kendle — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:24:57 +0000

Thanks for the info Barbara. Aren’t places like Lulu also pure print-on-demand publishers? Maybe I’m not sure what you mean by subsidy publishers?

By: Barbara Hudgins

Barbara Hudgins — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:41:37 +0000

As the author of Crafting the Travel Guidebook let me comment that all of the above-mentioned “self-publishing” companies are actually subsidy publishers. You can self-publish your travel guidebook, memoir or how-to-do-it book using Lightning Source or other Print-on-Demand printers. This entails setting up a publishing name (no big deal) getting an ISBN number ($245 in the U.S. but free in many other countries) and finding a book designer to do the cover and interior work unless you are very good at InDesign yourself. Of course you should get an copy editor to go over your work no matter who you use because authors rarely see their own mistakes. BTW, Booklocker.com, a subsidy press that uses some editorial standards published Tim Leffel’s book on the cheapest places to live.
In Crafting the Travel Guidebook I spend a whole chapter on the differences between traditional publishing, self-publishing and subsidy publishing. Arthur Frommer,Rick Steves and the Wheelers (founders of Lonely Planet) all started with one self-published book, done the old-fashioned way. Subsidy presses have their uses but authors should research very carefully before using them. Most bookstores will not stock subsidy books. It’s a real tug-of-war to get them to even special order a subsidy press book.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:44:26 +0000

Hello,
I read your list with interest because I self-published my travel book, “California Healthy,” which has received two national book awards, is endorsed by David L. Katz, M.D., garnered a national distributor, and is the first in-room green guide at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel. That said, I published it through my own company, Park Place Publications, which has been helping other authors self-publish for 20 years. I’m not as cheap as the on-line places you mentioned, but I’m reasonable, reliable and more creative. Books I make with my clients are used as family gifts, business adjuncts, how-to, spiritual, poetry, etc. And it can all be done on-line! Patricia

By: Louise Brown

Louise Brown — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:34:04 +0000

No I haven’t used them yet. I work for TravelPod.com. Soon, we’ll be incorporating Shared Book into our website.