How I Self Published this Book
Should You Do the Same?

When I began thinking about putting the prayers into a book form, I didn't realize that the book has to be a certain amount of pages before a publisher would even consider it.

So all these years I have had to self publish the book myself, which was not an easy task.

So here is what I did. In 1993, computers were not that easily to be had, so I used Word Perfect on the computer at church. Then after all the pages were done, I made each one the size of half of a 8x11 sheet of regular copy paper.

Having all the pages done, I went to a local printer and had the pages printed and collated, and stapled. The first run was about a 1000 copies, and it only carried the wording "Praying In Victory" on the cover.

Apply for a Copyright

I applied for a copyright for the book, and now it seems even harder to get it published because I already have it copyrighted.

Then I went to some Christian Book Stores and put the books on consignment, but most of the books were passed out freely.

Do You Need an ISBN?

Since 1999, the Internet had grown so much that I made this website, and it has helped getting the word out about the book. I was going to put it into local stores, but they said I needed a ISBN, so I applied for an ISBN. But no instruction came with how to use an ISBN.

Now on the Bowker ISBN website they have this posted: "If you have not already initiated your company transition plan for ISBN-13, you should begin today. This change will impact all business systems in the publishing industry. On January 1, 2007, the book industry will begin using 13 digit ISBNs to identify all books in supply chain. This change is happening for the following reasons: to expand the numbering capacity of the ISBN system and alleviate numbering shortages in certain areas of the world; to fully align the numbering system for books with the global EAN.UCC identification system that is widely used to identify most other consumer goods worldwide."

So I switched all my ISBN's to the new 13 digits. Thankfully they don't charge for this.

Getting a Bar Code

Then I found out I need a bar code, so I have yet to spend the bucks getting a bar code. There are places online that will make a bar code for you for a price, but I don't think I need one at this point. The pricing structure for bar codes is as follows ... 1 - 5 : $25 per bar code 6 - 10 : $23 per bar code 11 - 20 : $21 per bar code, which is really not that expensive.

Advertising Your Book

Next is advertising your book, and getting the word out. I have done several speaking engagements, but honestly II do not consider myself a great speaker.

Print On Demand

There are places online that will do a "printing on demand." In which they will print your book as the orders come in. But this is what I do from home anyway. When I run out of books, I just go have some more printed. Sometimes the printer does a great job, and the pages are perfect, but sometimes, I could cry when I see what they've done.

Conclusion

So if you are interested in self publishing a book, just remember that once you start selfpublishing, you will always be self publishing it. No publisher will take it on after you start. The nice thing about selfpublishing, is that you have full control of your book.

Do some reading here
Authorhouse books
Brentwood Christian Press
BarcodingFonts.com