In this book review we’ll be taking a look at a new how-to guide for self-publishing books, “APE: Author, Publisher Entrepreneur-How to Publish A Book”. APE, as the title states, stands for “Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur” which describes the three key roles of a self-publisher, as identified by the authors: entrepreneur and blogger Guy Kawasaki, and technologist Shawn Welch. One of the more challenging aspects of working online is marketing, and learning tools to help us stand out from the crowd, so we will paying particular attention to this area during the book review.

Cover to Cover: APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur

Guy  Kawasaki explains his reason for writing this book on self-publishing:

In 2011 the publisher of one of my books, Enchantment, could not fill an order for 500 ebook copies of the book. Because of this experience, I self-published my next book, What the Plus!, and learned first-hand that self-publishing is a complex, confusing, and idiosyncratic process.

The result is “APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur”, a step-by-step guide with advice and inspiration, ISBN “978-0-9885231-1-1”.

At 300 pages, APE is split into three key sections, following the structure of the title:

• Chapters 1-7 (the first 50 or so pages) focus on the Author aspect (Why you should write a book, how to finance, and tools for writers)
• Chapters 8-21 (around 140 pages) talk about the Publishing aspects (editing, book cover selection, selling through book stores, and pricing)
• Chapters 22-29 (approximately 55 pages) highlight the Entrepreneur side of things (actually marketing the book, using social-media, and pitching to bloggers)