Authors and Self-Publishing

[MRBAA]

As the author of two poker books published by major firms, I believe publishers provide only one truly essential service: Distribution.

I could find editors and printers myself, and although my printing cost might be higher than a publisher is able to negotiate (since I'd only be printing one book, not hundreds), it would still be low enough to permit me a very generous per book royalty. However my publishers were able to get my books into virtually every major bookstore chain nationwide, which I would have no way of doing on my own. Without that, there's no way my books would have sold anywhere close to the number of copies that they have. Unless you can generate tremendous publicity, you're not going to be able to get bookstores to carry your book on your own, nor are you going to be able to drive large numbers of people to find and purchase your book online.