Guy Kawasaki is Exhibit A for the power of personal branding. So when after writing best-sellers for traditional publishers he began to self-publish books, lots of people were likely to have taken a more favorable view of this burgeoning end of publishing. Now, along with co-author Shawn Welch, he has written a comprehensive guide to the process: APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book. Guy, whom I also wrote about last July when we were at the SLA Annual Conference in Chicago for different reasons, is well-connected because he works hard at it. He produces quality products and wants to help others succeed. A key additional success factor is the positive force of his personality.
It’s not surprising that the book has drawn lots of favorable coverage.
APE presents lots of options for self-publishing, yet it is also relevant and useful for authors working with traditional publishers. The tone is similar to Guy’s other books: friendly yet realistic. The process is presented in a clear-eyed way; he is open about the difficulties and pitfalls but stresses how doable it is and how successful it can be with the proper care, time, and effort. I enjoyed the quotations and references to other books and his reminder that writing and publishing a book should have a high and noble purpose. A major takeaway is that for any book, self-published or not, the best situation is when the author’s and reader’s interests intersect.
