the idea: get an army of helpful friends to help distribute a self-published book

I have self-published four books at various stages of editing and completion throughout my life.  One is awful, two are passable, and one is okay.  Self-publishing was really the last step I took with these books because I didn’t like them enough to try to get other people to read them.  I simply wanted the satisfaction of holding a finished, actual book with my name on it.

But now I’m writing Don’t Make Art, Just Make Something and I am planning to get it out into the world.  My previous experiences with self-publishing have given me some ideas about what I should do as have my random experiences as a storyteller throughout Boston.

Although self-publishing has been around for a while, I plan to take this a step further and do grassroots publishing.  What I mean is I’m going to take the self-published book and bring it to local bookstores, tourist stores, art stores, and other places that may or may not sell it.  I am also going to create posters with the book’s front cover and paste them everywhere and leave free copies of the book around the city.  Lastly, and most importantly, I am going to ask my friends around the country to do the same thing.

Actual printing is only one part of the publishing process.  They also distribute and sell the books.  Between my friends (yet to be enlisted, hopefully they will agree) and myself walking around our various cities and a ebook version that I will hopefully spread around the internet, I am planning to do book distribution the entrepreneurial way.

Here’s to making it work!