Direct Publishing Via POD: A Primer
Via Twitter from slipdown:
Self-publishing a book: 25 things you need to know
Against the advice of my agent, I began perusing the big self-publishing companies’ Web sites and evaluating what they had to offer. Then I started poking around blogs and message boards to get customer testimonials. What I found was a veritable minefield with roads that forked in every direction and very few clear answers.
What follows is a very long article dense with information.
One bit I want to emphasize:
The only giveaway that you’re dealing with a self-published book would be if the cover were poorly designed — which, unfortunately, is too often the case.
See why the cover matters?
Previously here:
Covers: The Science!
The Topic Of Covers … Again!
Writers: Would You Call A Doctor Or A Healer?
eBooks: The Issue Of Covers, Again
Free eBook: Password Incorrect
Book Covers: Murder
Book Cover: What?!
eBooks: More About Covers
eBooks: A Cover Test
They Don’t Write These Anymore
Mike Cane 2008 
December 19, 2008 at 9:52 am
Well-thought out and excellently carried out cover design is essential for any POD book, particularly if it is to be sold on online retailers such as Amazon.
Your book is up there against the big boys (and the not so big boys) and it is important that it doesn’t look weak.
Remember, if you can’t see your cover at 13% reduction in Photoshop, you’ve got to go back to the drawing board!
December 30, 2008 at 10:37 am
Regarding a post a while back where you decided to insult my choice of mobipocket – I downloaded and looked at sony’s desktop reader yesterday and it doesn’t compare. Mobipocket reader gives the user many many more options. Mobipocket reader automatically converts files to mobi format. Add that to the fact that it’s not connected to a particular reader (which is why I went with it in the first place) and there is no comparison. Not sure what your criteria are, but for me I would never choose Sony over Mobi. How you could call mobi outdated and suggest sony instead is far beyond me.
December 30, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Insult? You probably took personally the fact I consider Mobi to be a legacy format doomed to Electron Hell due to the inevitable ascendancy of the industry-standard ePub format.
I still believe that.
But check it out: The jetBook will do Mobi for you next year too.
https://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/ectaco-jetbook-ups-epub-stakes/
It won’t die no matter what I think. Dammit.