Book Review: Show Me About Book Publishing by Judith Briles, Rick Frishman, and John Kremer

POSTED ON May 18, 2011

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Ed: Please see the note at the end of this review for a special offer the authors are making for three days only.

Today I’m reviewing a new book on independent book publishing: Show Me About Book Publishing. It’s written by an unusual group of people.

The authors are all heavyweights in the independent book publishing and marketing fields. Judith Briles as the founder of Mile High Press, the author of 28 books with sales over 1 million copies, and a book shepherd (TheBookShepherd.com). She also runs the AuthorU publishing program in Colorado and has a second book on writing and publishing coming out this year.

Rick Frishman is the founder of Planned Television Arts, Publisher at Morgan-James Publishing, the co-author of 10 books, and probably the most famous book publicist today.

John Kremer, of course, is John Kremer, the author of the seminal 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, The Book Marketing Update, and one of the best publishing resources online, Bookmarket.com

So what kind of book do these three powerhouses of independent publishing put together? I was curious to have a look.

What Do Three Mega-Book Marketers Write About?

The book starts off with an examination of your options when it comes to publishing a book, including traditional paths to publishing. There are copious warnings about staying away from subsidy and “vanity” publishing companies, and many examples are provided from the combined experience of the authors to demonstrate what happens when you mess up.

There’s an interesting discussion of the difference between book coaches, book consultants, and book shepherds, and how you might go about finding someone to help put a publishing team together for you.

The authors are in favor of this team approach, with professionals in each area brought in to help shape and market the product.

Throughout the book, the tone seems pretty consistent. It’s upbeat and conversational, and the authors clearly want to infect you with their enthusiasm for publishing.

A concise chapter outlines the editing process and tips on dealing with editing and editors, another gives you guidance on book construction. More chapters deal with book cover tips, an extensive publishing calendar, platform building, foreign rights, motivation, and avoiding mistakes. In each case, you’ll get a brief overview of the area, basic information you’ll need to make your way through the publishing maze, but without long or technical discussions of any part of the process.

At the end there are 37 pages of Resource listings. These resources are virtually all web links, of course. The hundreds of links join the hundreds of links printed in the book, more than I’ve seen in a book that I can recall.

Besides the usual ads at the back, there’s a sneak peek at the next book in what will become a series: Show Me About Book Publicity & Social Media.

A Good Concise Resource with Lots of Links

Show Me About Book Publishing shows the authors’ background as book marketers. The book isn’t trying to displace The Self-Publishing Manual or The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, compendia of self-publishing information.

It’s more of an overview of independent publishing right now from the point of view of the type of author who is interested in mounting a national campaign for their books. These authors are very likely to have more than one book, and to be working with a team of publishing professionals, the method promoted by the authors in this book.

This is not to say Show Me About Book Publishing isn’t useful to the other kind of self-publishers, authors who are going straight to e-books, or selling strictly by print on demand—a practice, by the way, that the authors of this book advise against. It will still be useful for all the other publishing information and the acquired wisdom of three superstar authors, and also for the many resource links.

And speaking of those links, while I was reading the book I wanted to keep pressing them, as if I had live links on my iPad. I hope one of the versions of the book allows for that kind of connectivity, because it will make this useful book even more practical to own.

Takeaway: Show Me About Book Publishing packs a lot of current information on publishing and selling books into a compact package. Written by three indie publishing professionals, this book will be a valuable companion for anyone embarking on a self-publishing journey.

Note: The authors are running a special promotion over May 17, 18, 19, 2011 only. They are giving away a huge number of bonuses to anyone who purchases the book. If you want to know more, go to the book website here: Show Me About Book Publishing.