Hi Sandra,

I’m sorry to hear you were taken advantage of like that! Yes, I think self-publishing is a perfectly viable option for you. The above advice largely stands with regard to publishing through Amazon. You might also be interested in Lulu: it offers a little less in the way of distribution, but a little more in terms of the control you get over your book’s design and publication quality. Best of luck to you!

i’m 75 I just wrote my first book. It’s now got its copywrite number. It s going to be finished printing soon. I thought I was dealing with a legit company but found they are vanity publishers. Luckily it cost me only a thousand dollars but I will have my book all complete exactly how I want it. Now they are trying to get me to pay 10 grand for publicity etc. Sorry i’m not biting. Should I go to Amazon or Kindle? Should I take a class or something please advise if you can. It’s a book I wrote to read to your dog at bedtime…. I have talked already to a pet store they want me to do a book signing they said it will likely do very well. Who knows i just don’t want to make stupid mistakes! Thank you for your help even if you just read this!

I have published several poetry-short story books, and like the poetry I buy, unless it is perfect, comparing oneself to John Ashbery or Robert Hass, for example, is something readers like myself will do. There is so much junk. You can’t expect other people to read it or buy it.

I have had the same experience Old Buck.

However, at one point, I went to London on vacation and read in a small pub with a traveler I met at a Youth Hostel. She ended up reading and reviewing all of my books. She is an educator residing in Barcelona. I sold some books because of her reviews, which she gave at the Goethe Institute in Barcelona and online.

I keep writing them and will be self-publishing the newest either completely with Amazon initially or, in 90 days, switching over to Ingram-Spark and other publishers to enact broader coverage. However, I am still researching, as indicated by my presence here. It is a long process. At some point, I will give up.

This year I am also recording and posting solo piano pieces and singing, which I hope will gain some traction. Maybe it will all come together. I work in several artistic genres.

As I said, we don’t know how good we are until someone passes judgment and the sales are indicative. I don’t buy a book unless it is well-reviewed and proven. Yet, I also buy books I find in bookstores and of a philosophical nature, like Being and Time and The Critique of Dialectical Reason, which are clearly vetted.

We may not stand a chance and may not realize that until we are long gone. It’s a kind of blindness and implies narcissism. I wish you luck.