Although self-publishing can be a valuable tool in the author’s publishing toolbox, it’s not without its challenges. As a matter of fact, it can be a downright daunting experience at times.

That being said, there’s certainly no reason to be afraid of or intimidated by online publishing sites like Lulu, CreateSpace, Blurb or WordClay. They’re getting easier to use as the technology improves, and the truth is that literally thousands of people are successfully publishing through these sites every day. As we’ve discussed, these sites are free to try and they won’t make your work visible to others until you’re ready for them to–so there’s really no reason not to test them out. All you’ll lose is some time (OK, and maybe some of your patience), but you’ll learn a lot about the future of publishing in the process.

Nor do you have to be a rocket scientist to navigate these sites successfully, but I do think that at a minimum you should be comfortable using a web browser. You’ll also need to have your manuscript and cover art files in digital format on your computer. Generally, manuscripts are in Microsoft MS Word .doc files and PDFs, and cover art files are in graphic image formats (JPG, PNG, GIF, etc) or PDFs.

Over the next few weeks and months I’ll be adding several tutorials–publishing walk-throughs, pricing scenarios, distribution flows, storefront setups, etc–that can help you become more comfortable and familiar with these various sites and the services that they offer. I’ll also be enlisting some help from other experts to help make these tutorials as complete and as up-to-date as possible. In self-publishing, like all technology-driven industries, the landscape is changing daily!

We’ll start out with the site I know the best–Lulu.com, of course–but stay tuned for more additions in the near future.

Here are the areas I’m planning to cover at this point:

Lulu.com:

Registration and Basic Paperback Publishing Flow

Cover Art Flow

Distribution Package Flow, Proof Purchase, Revision

Storefront Setup

Pricing/Royalty/Payment Setup

CreateSpace.com:

Registration and Basic Paperback Publishing Flow

Pricing/Royalty/Payment Setup

Storefront Setup

Blurb.com:

Registration, Software Download, and Basic Paperback Publishing Flow

WordClay.com:

Registration and Basic Paperback Publishing Flow

That looks like plenty enough for now. Also, don’t hesitate to contact me with any specific areas you’d like to see explained. Remember–you can do this! And, believe me, you’ll be proud of yourself as well.