Many of my clients are trying to get their books published. Most realize how difficult it is to get a book published through a renowned publishing company. As a result, they are looking into self-publishing.

One of the best sites I have found for self-publishing is Ron Pramschufer’s at http://www.selfpublishing.com. This is not a vanity press publishing site. Unlike vanity and on-demand publishers, Ron’s site helps authors to publish their books at a reasonable cost, with excellent results.

Ron’s most recent blog about self-publishing bemoans the fact that the vanity presses and on-demand publishers have convinced people that if you can put it on a computer, we can see that it’s published. Thus, says Ron, and I heartily agree, there is a tsunami of awful books hitting the market. These books are often horribly written, completely unedited, and rarely proofread. There is so much tripe floating in the waters of the printed word that it’s hard to find the real books, those worth reading and that have been carefully prepared for publication.

It doesn’t matter that a book gets published. That alone will not guarantee success. Success is never guaranteed, but an author has a better chance at achieving some financial success if the book he or she publishes is well written, carefully edited, and prepared free of errors before it is sent to an editor, agent, or publishing house. That takes time and money (editors don’t work for free), but in the long run, the potential for success is definitely enhanced.