1.10 What if you want help to publish?

Some people find ebook and print book publishing too much of a hassle and would rather pay someone else to do it for them. That's fine and of course, it's up to you how much work you want to do yourself.

Publishing these days is not just a binary choice between traditional publishing with an advance vs. self-publishing and doing it all yourself. There are myriad options along the scale and lots of companies that can help you. Many of these companies are fantastic but some of them are sharks, so you need to be careful.

Spend a couple of dollars and save yourself thousands.

Buy Choose The Best Self-Publishing Services by the Alliance of Independent Authors, available on all the online stores. It's a guide to self-publishing services written by authors, for authors, with no vested interest in the companies described.

The Alliance also has a watchdog listing of companies and whether they are recommended or not: www.TheCreativePenn.com/watchdog

You can also join the Alliance and take advantage of the collective knowledge, as well as becoming part of a growing global community of indie authors. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/alliance

I'm a Member and Advisor and I do monthly Advanced Self-Publishing sessions with the founder, Orna Ross on the ALLi podcast.

You can also check free information at Writer Beware, or this list of Publishing Companies to Avoid from Reedsy.

If you’re considering a publishing company, do your research online.

Make sure that you know what you're getting into and what the costs are, not just to publish but also to make changes to your files over time.

Determine who owns the copyright and what control you have in the process. How much are the royalties and when are they paid?

You're likely to be excited about getting your book into the world right now, but you still want to be excited in the future. So, try to make publishing a business decision, not just an emotional one.

Recommendation: whitefox

You can use the resources above to investigate the many options for self-publishing partnership companies, but I get emails every day from authors who want a more specific answer.

I recommend whitefox for authors who want a premium self-publishing service with excellent attention to detail, quality printing, and expert guidance through the process from manuscript to publication and marketing. They are based in the UK and USA and specialize primarily in those markets.

I am an affiliate of whitefox so if you do use their services, I will receive a small percentage at no extra cost to you. I only recommend services I think are great for authors and whitefox do a great job for those writers who don’t want to manage everything themselves and still want to retain the rights to their work.