Question about publishing a book

Looks like no one has any experience doing this yet?

I think that you need to obtain an isnb number , try to see on createspace.com

You can easily self publish a book & it doesn't matter where in the world you are as long as you can pay what the publishers will charge. If you want to know where simply "Google" "self publish book" & you'll find a ton of companies looking to help you out. I guarantee if you e-mail them what it's going to take you'll find much better advice than by simply asking on this forum.

I am living in Bangladesh. Is it possible to publish this book in Bangladesh even if I'm not there? What is the process and how much do you think the costs involved.

Yes, self-publishing is the way to go. There are several ways...

I have mine printed at (LSI) Lightning Source, Inc - a POD (printing on demand) company owned by Ingram. Ingram is the largest book distributor in the US. LSI only works with publishers, which means you must first set yourself up as publishing business - business name, checking account, phone number.

LSI has printing facilities in several states, and London, and somewhere in Australia. They distribute world wide, distribute to book stores and online stores including Amazon. They are not a vanity publisher, and you will need to format your book, have a cover designed, get your own ISBN, and upload your files to LSI.

There also are Vanity publishers that "do-it-all" for you, but charge a high price.

Another POD publisher, called LuLu, is expensive. They are the POD equivalent to vanity publishers. The cost per book runs about $10 higher than LSI.

A no-cost way is to start with Amazon Kindle publishing. It is free. Then you must promote your book. Do a google search for "Amanda Hocking" to see how she used Kindle to launch here career as an author.

Amazon also has KDP Select. This is a weird program in which Kindle promotes your Kindle book, but lets Amazon-Prime customers "rent" the Kindle edition of your book free - everyone else pays. You will get a lot of exposure with this.

If you want a printed book, another way is to use Amazon's Createspace. This is Amazon's POD system. It is free to set up. You only pay for books you order for yourself. You don't need to be a publisher to use this, and Amazon will supply an ISBN.

The big name publishers don't usually accept books from individual authors. They only take submissions from Literary Agents, and an author must find an agent who is willing to promote their book.

Do a Google search for a blog by Aaron Shepard, also one for Dan Poynter. These two are leaders in the self-publishing industry. They both are active on the POD publishing newsgroup at Yahoo where you can ask questions.

The simplified version of the steps to self-publishing are:
-write the book
-have it proofread and copy edited to clean up awkward sentences and typos
-have the layout of the book formatted - front material, table of contents, chapters, etc'
-acquire an ISBN and maybe a bar-code (if you want to sell in stores other than bookstores)
-order pre-publication review copies with a temporary cover design
-send out to reviewers
-have the cover designed and formatted to the specification of the printing company
-submit the files to the printer
--order books
-get the books into distribution companies
-start advertising and promoting

Or you can publish electronically through Kindle, Nook, .pdf - all without any up-front costs.

:-Don

Hi Don,

Thank you very much for taking time to write this valuable information. Yes, I know and heard about Amanda Hocking right after she became well-known and her story seems inspiring..

regards,
adie

Don's given you some good information.

Before actually laying out money for printing I think it would be wise to put up a blog where you write about your novel. Maybe isolate a few exciting chapters and give them away. Publish it for Kindle first and sell it at a discount.

The idea is to create some buzz around the title. People think the hard part of being an author is writing. That's actually the easy part. Getting the book in the hands of readers is the real challenge. Good luck.

Hard copy is just a second thought for me. I'll probably go with digital copy and use my SEO ability to promote my book. I just read a very interesting and detailed explanation and I thought I like to share:
Self-publishing a book: 25 things you need to know | Fully Equipped - CNET Reviews

Don's explanation above is actually similar to this author's information in more detailed explanation... Thanks for all info.. Now I have peace of mind and will write more... I already asked my Australian and British friends to copy-edit the book for me hence I am not a native English speaker so the grammar and sentence construction I think is close to terrible....

I have heard good feedback about a service called LuLu for self publishing a book. Self Publishing, Book Printing and Publishing Online - Lulu

FYI- Createspace is now offering UK and Europe distribution-per Createspace: "distribute their books in Europe for free on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es and Amazon.it"

This is another good reason to consider Createspace. I know my sales have increased now that they are offering expanded distribution.