Everything Kevin Kelly knows about self-publishing.  

(via) Kevin Kelly’s excellent essay about publishing today is that it’s all about self-publishing. These points jumped out at me:

• The traditional approach to publishing a book–write a proposal, get an agent, get a publisher, get an advance, write the book, do a tour, collect royalty checks–is over. (This related piece on the dire economics of traditional book publishing concurs.)
• Even with an agent and publisher, it’s up to you to supply your audience and market to them. (This was my experience with the Lifehacker book 15 years ago.)
• On-demand printing software and services are better than they’ve ever been for self-publishers. I especially like Kelly’s flow chart of platform recommendations depending on your goals and content. First question: “Have an audience?”
• The audience for text is stagnant and skews older, while the audience for video continues to expand while getting younger.

Being a book author has a lot more cachet attached to it than being a blogger. I’ve been both, and for me, blogging and engaging with an audience online is way more fun and fulfilling than having a book with my name on it sitting on a shelf.

Everything I Know about Self-Publishing · kk.org

I’m often asked for advice about how to go about publishing today, with all its options, so here is everything I have learned about publishing and self-publishing so far.