When I was new to e-publishing Jason Matthews’ earlier guides were an invaluable help. So when I learned he had a new one out and that it contained mostly new information I was immediately interested and bought it.

My books on Amazon    Imbroglio | Automaton | Tapestries  | 25 Writing Tips

It was the title that grabbed my attention—Self publish … with Amazon, Apple, Google and other major retailers—because to date I’ve remained exclusively with Amazon but always wondered what was entailed to go with the others.

Now I know.

A misconception I’ve held is that Smashwords is a retailer, like Amazon. It isn’t. It’s so much more. It’s a distributor as well, and distributes to all the major retailers. So by publishing with Smashwords you’re simultaneously publishing with Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo etc. This was a big learning curve for me. As was how to go about it.

In this guide Matthews leads us through all aspects of publishing. There’s a lot on promoting, blogging, and the benefits of figuring out what you want to do and starting it early.

There is also valuable information about, but not limited to, print publishing, cover design, editing including beta readers, and getting reviews.

And then there are the step-by-step instructions for formatting books in line with the requirements of the various retailers. As I’ve said, these are the sections that were of most interest to me.

I imagine this will quickly become one of the must-have guides for anyone serious about publishing, promoting and marketing their own books.

SELF PUBLISH TO A WORLD OF READERS on Amazon

Read my November 2013 interview with Jason Matthews