Today I have an honour to take part in a self-publishing workshop in a beautiful place near Ravenna, Italy.
The event is organized by Mauro Sandrini, one of the leading Italian self-publishers, and the author of the avantgarde manifesto of the digital book, Elogio degli e-book.
The workshop gathers over 50 participants from across the Italy. Together with Mauro, Sergio Covelli, and Stefano Tura we encourage writers to enter the world of self-publishing and get the most out of it in the most effective way possible.
Sergio will share tips on how to prepare an electronic book file, and how to keep control over the e-book in different formats. Stefano will go through the process of selecting the self-publishing platform, which could best suit specific needs of every author. The next step of the process is marketing of the published book, and Mauro will talk about the best practices in this area (especially in online promotion), sharing some really interesting case studies. In my presentation I’ll show how to select the most suitable tools for every phase of the process.
Nowadays, there are many self-publishing events organized in the United States, but such initiatives in non-English countries are still very seldom. And there are a lot of topics, which make this challenge very different from US (or English-speaking countries in general).
First thing is the audience (scale of the local market, the level of the acceptance of e-books among readers, and the choice to make between going local or global).
Self-publishing is all about using the online tools to get the book published and promoted. In 2008 when I started to self-publish, there were not enough such tools and, what’s more, they were highly unreliable. Now, the tools are very advanced, and you can find one for almost every task related to self-publishing, no matter how specific it is. Now the biggest challenge for every writer will be to pick up the right ones.
Check the official page of Selfpublishing Lab 2012 for a detailed information. It’ll be organized next year, so it’s good to sign up to a newsletter.
Last thing: I loved the idea of organizing self-publishing event on the beach, since I first heard about it from Mauro, last year, during EbookLab Italia. There is something about self-publishing, which perfectly fits into the feeling of relaxation and enjoyment. Since you decide to self-publish the book you wrote, it gives you confidence of being in control. There is no pressure except the one you put yourself. Stress is replaced by excitement. And you can be only as good, as much excitement you are able to share with the others.
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Below you’ll find my presentation, in which 4 topics are discussed:
1. Why it’s good to self-publish – and why it’s good to do it now
2. Tools for self-publishers – and how to pick the best ones
3. Free books and book editions – pluses and minuses
4. E-book cover design – opportunities and threats
Download/open presentation (pdf)
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