September, 2009 | Self-Publishing Review

The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility by Brent Robison

There is nothing that separates this book from a book on a small independent press. Nothing. The cover is exquisite, the writing is crisp, well-edited, and moving. It’s not perfect, but none of my criticisms have anything to do with the professionalism of the book. When this book was sent to me, I wrote to the author that the cover evoked to me string theory and quantum foam – especially when coupled with such a lofty title as The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibilty. I was imagining a book that did for fractals what William Vollmann’s novel, The Atlas, […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T18:54:16+02:00September 16th, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Backword Books Announces Writing Contest: Win 7 Books

I’m normally somewhat reticent to post too much about Backword Books here because I don’t want SPR to become too much of a site for my own self-promotion – Backword Books is a self-publishing collective I belong to. But I think this contest could be interesting: write a blog post about self-publishing to win 7 books by 7 Backword authors. Here’s the full outline of the contest. Hope you’ll take part in it – could be an interesting way to foment opinion about self-publishing:

Grand Prize: A package of seven books by Backword authors: Homefront by Kristen Tsetsi, Spam &

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Henry Baum2009-12-31T18:42:11+02:00September 16th, 2009|Categories: News|

Self Publishing Basics: How to Read an ISBN

Some years ago I published a book that landed on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Book Review, which was quite a thrill for my wife and I, who were running our publishing company from a spare bedroom in our house.

Soon enough, the phone started to ring, and one call was from a distributor in New York.

“Hey, we’re all wondering down here, is this some guy publishing from his dining room? We have a bet.” There was plenty of snickering in the background.

“Well, you’d be wrong,” I said, “I’m in the bedroom. How can […]

Joel Friedlander2011-10-08T18:54:36+02:00September 16th, 2009|Categories: Resources|

The Quartet Press Story

One of the things that’s not talked about enough is that self-publishing is no different than starting your own publishing company – if it were couched in these terms, perhaps it would get more respect. How can there not be respect for someone who’s in charge of every facet of the publishing process? The trouble is this isn’t always the case. When you publish with Lulu, it’s possible to have a book printed in ten minutes using one of their cover templates. It’s no more difficult than signing up with Blogger. This is great, but it’s a different animal than […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:49:11+02:00September 15th, 2009|Categories: News|

Call Out for Reviewers

An idea – wondering if writers would be interested in taking on books to review. I could send each writer an ebook and he/she could write a review while offering a place to plug a book. As it stands, this site has more books coming in than can possibly be reviewed by the current staff, with more coming in daily. With Lulu boasting on its site, “Over 1000 New Titles a Day,” it’s no surprise that this site might be overwhelmed with books.

A representative from Outskirts Press recently offered to send the site 2 books a week to review. […]

Henry Baum2009-12-31T18:47:34+02:00September 15th, 2009|Categories: Lead Story|

Should You Self-Publish?

That title sounds like a pretty rudimentary question from a site going into its tenth month, but that’s not the question that’s been asked most often here. The question has been: is self-publishing legitimate? This comes in response to people who say things like “Self-published books are crap,” which is sort of like saying, “All dogs bite,” after being bitten by two. Plainly put, they’re wrong, overgeneralizing, and aren’t worth too much more ink.

Now that self-publishing is a legitimate way to go, is it something you should consider? The “About” page for this site says,

The aim of this

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Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:49:26+02:00September 9th, 2009|Categories: Lead Story|

Interview with SPR Editor in the Sacramento News & Review

I was recently interviewed for the Sacramento News & Review by Melanie Glover about self-publishing. I’ve got a lot to say on the subject but a small portion of the interview was actually used in the article. Check out the article here: Any way you want it, that’s the way they print it. Melanie Glover offered to let me print the interview in full here.

Melanie Glover: How long has the site been up and running? Why did you start it?

Henry Baum: I started it in December 2008. It’s only six months old, but it’s now listed #2 […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:49:41+02:00September 3rd, 2009|Categories: Interviews|

Self-Publishing: Best Idea Ever

On Pimp my Novel, there was a very terrible post called Self-Publishing: Great Idea… or Worst Idea Ever? I have reached a point where I no longer feel the need to defend self-publishing any longer. And recently I’ve had some pretty long dialogues on the subject – I figure that’s my last word on the subject. The detractors are just so wrong, it’s not even worth arguing. Eric, who says he works in “the sales department of a major trade book publisher,” wrote age-old criticisms such as,