Do-it-yourself publishing is now only a click away

Getting your book on the shelves is now no longer a hassle for debutant authors, reports Heena Khan.

Writing a book is only half the battle won. The other half leaves you at the mercy of literary agents, traditional publishers, distributors, reviewers and marketers. But writers need lose no heart because there's respite at hand, courtesy the phenomenon of self-publishing.

Let's look at top publishing solutions that can help you package and market your words to the widest possible audience.

CreateSpace
It's a platform for new writers that allows bringing out a book at a reasonable fee for designing, formatting, printing and publishing. One can also publish books for free. It makes your book available for sale through Amazon.com.

Lulu
It has enabled people in more than 225 countries to self-publish nearly two million publications via print, e-readers and tablet devices. It's available in six languages. The book is published for free, but distribution is limited to their site. However, one can get full distribution for a resonable fee.

Smashwords
It converts word files into ebook formats and distributes them globally to ebook etailers. They pay 85 per cent of the net profit to the authors for each book sold. The author also retains all rights and complete control of the book, its sampling, pricing, and promotion. Authors can even publish it elsewhere, if they like. Smashwords publishes the ebook for free. It provides the ebook a page on their website, and sells it there for free. It generates income through commissions from the sales of written works.

Aventine Press
It publishes the book with a few tweaks in the terms and conditions. They generally take pricing decisions based on the finished page count. They claim to be the fastest in layout, design and formatting among publishing companies, and in most cases the book is ready in three months.