I've been following Catherine Howard's writing blog CATHERINE, CAFFEINATED at http:catherineryanhoward.com
for some time and it makes good reading. She not only offers witty insights into a writer's life but offers sound, detailed advice on such subjects as checking the format of an ebook on different platforms (that may not be your thing but if you ever want to find out about the nuts and bolts of ebooks from someone who is not a geek this is the place to look).
In today's post she complains about the poor quality of many self published books and has two simple rules to combat it.
1) Try to sell your book to agents and other people who know about books (not your mother) before you go down the self publishing route. If they like it, but don't think that it's commercially viable, you can use self publishing to establish if there is a market.
2) Use the magic of technology to make your self published POD (print on demand) book look as much like a conventionally published book as possible. Be professional about every aspect from copy editing to cover design.
I'm paraphrasing - go visit her blog to read the post in full. (click on this title to go there.)
And I will add my own tuppence worth - writing matters. There is a craft to learn and there are two ways of learning it: by writing and by reading (gifted creative writing tutors can help, of course). Rushing into print is not part of the learning process - make your mistakes where readers can't find you. Only your very best work, polished and carefully edited, should have the solidity of print. You are still learning even after you get published of course, but your shouldn't treat paying readers as though they are members of a writing support group. They have bought a product and they have every right to expect it to be as good as you can possibly make it.
