Project Publish: Climbing the learning curve of self-publishing

I want to publish a book.

Let me elaborate. I have already written and published several books. But my last book, Elements of the Table: A Simple Guide for Hosts and Guests, was published in 2007 (by a division of Random House), and I feel it's time to do something new.

I have several ideas for a new non-fiction book, but I haven't quite settled yet on which one I want to pursue. It's not only a question of which idea interests me the most, but a also what will most likely attract readers and a potential publisher.

I also am nursing the fantasy of writing a novel. I have never written fiction before, but it compels me, as it does so many writers. I have an idea for a novel, too, a well-developed idea. I even took a writing class last year, which helped me a lot, and I got a few pages written. Fiction is hard. (Yes, Barbie, it's harder than math.)

There's another piece to this. In addition to being a writer, I am, as you may know, a publishing industry professional. As such, I have watched the major changes that have occurred recently in the self-publishing segment of the industry: the new print-on-demand technologies, the digital advances, the online publishing companies and communities.

Self-publishing has gone, as a recent story in the industry trade magazine Publishers Weekly put it, from "an outlet of last resort for desperate authors" to something perfectly respectable. In fact, mainstream publishers are now trolling the ranks of self-published authors looking for their next break-out book.

While I am aware of all these changes in self-publishing, I have studied them at something of a distance, looking at the bigger picture. If I were to decide to self-publish my own book, would I know how to do it? What are the correct steps to take, what sort of assistance will I need, which of these self-publishing companies (Lulu, CreateSpace, etc.) can help me, how much money will I have to spend and how much money can I expect or hope to make?

I'm really interested to know the answers to these questions, to really understand from personal experience what it's like self-publishing a book.

For years, when I was an editor and then a literary agent, I helped many authors through the process of being published by a mainstream publisher. Often, they would complain about this or that, mostly things in the category of not getting enough attention from the publisher. I would try to figure out ways to solve the problem and make them feel better. But I always took this attitude: "It's not as bad as it seems and we can fix this."

When I became an author and went through the process myself, I suddenly saw and experienced things from a different point of view. Thinking of all those author complaints I had tried to minimize, I thought: "Oh, they were right!"

The only way to know what it's really like is to do it yourself. And so, I am hereby announcing, I am going to self-publish a book. And, through periodic posts here, I'm going to take you along for the ride.

Fasten your seatbelts!