Review: Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should

Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should by David Gaughran

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Before I started to read this book, I had made the decision to consider electronic self-publication, but was not yet completely convinced. I’d spent too many years studying what I needed to do to get published the traditional way, and that meant I had all the old preconceptions about self-publication: it’s vanity publishing, nobody will buy it, and it’s tantamount to giving up. However, like so many other aspiring authors with a manuscript to their name and a steadily increasing pile of rejection letters, Kindle had been tempting me for a while and I had long promised myself that ‘eventually I’ll have to consider going down that road.’

A few days ago I crossed the threshold and decided I had to start taking this option seriously. I did a quick Google search for books on the subject, and this came up as number one.

The book is very straightforward and has a clear message: electronic self-publication is the way forward. It also provides a complete practical guide to the process itself, with links to a huge range of resources to cover anything there wasn’t room for in the book. Perhaps most importantly, a large section of the book is devoted to success stories from other authors. While legacy publishing wallows in doom and gloom, the future is looking very bright for e-publication, and it really shows when reading this book.

In short, the book has finally given me the shove I needed to cast loose and try something different. The only reason I haven’t given it five stars is because it’s rather US-centric (although most of the information is transferrable, and appendices deal with the international situation).

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