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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

Is there any instance of when you SHOULD leave a comment on a blog post?

I can think of one—which is the subject of my post today.

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

Leaving comments is an ongoing source of discussion. I’ve seen two posts by other bloggers in just the last week.

I’m not going to enter into the general debate about leaving them versus not leaving them.

I have a very definite situation in mind.

Guest posts, interviews, promotions

It’s when we guest post on another’s blog site. What’s the etiquette of responding once the post is published?

If you’ve been lucky enough to be a guest on another blog, been interviewed or had your book/s featured, do you say a public thank you in the comments box at the bottom of the post?

The blog host probably spent quite a bit of time preparing the post. My thinking is they should be publicly thanked for their efforts. It’s the polite thing to do, isn’t it?

A blogging master

I was first presented with this several years ago when I was new to blogging. One of my first guest appearances was on UK author Morgen Bailey’s blog. Now there’s an incredibly busy blogger who knows what she’s about.

In the information she provided me with was the request that after the event I visit the blog and leave a comment. I did, and it’s a lesson that has stayed with me.

In subsequent guest appearances I’ve both commented on the blog site and privately thanked the host via email.

In my own blog posts featuring guests I haven’t followed Morgen’s lead by asking the guest to leave a comment but I’ve decided to do so in future.

The reason being that I rarely receive that public thank you on the post itself. I often receive an email. Sometimes I receive a comment on e.g. Facebook. And in both instances I appreciate the courtesy and thoughtfulness.

However, in more than a few instances I’ve not received any follow-up thank you or comment.