I learnt a lot about self-publishing from listening to Johnny, Sean (and Dave’s) Self-Publishing Podcast a couple of years ago and their Write, Publish, Repeat book (my review from 2014 is here) but I felt like their podcast devolved into a prolonged sales pitch and stopped listening. So I was glad to see they had distilled their banter into this book. It’s chatty, preferring “timeless” generalities to specific “how to” hacks, which is its strength and its weakness: There’s nothing wrong with the book, but there’s nothing particularly amazing either. However, if you are new to self-publishing or an old hand who wants to know the current norms of self-publishing fiction, it’s all here. Although, you’ll get as much value from my two blog posts “How to write a novel on a shoestring: 10 steps to get from blank screen to publishable manuscript” and “Everything you ever really need to know about marketing your book: an interview with Matthew Dons” — both free and a fraction of the length of Fiction Formula.
No. 6 of 100 books I intend to read and review in 2020.
* * *
Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at his conversation school in Abiko, Japan, with his wife, he writes and illustrates textbooks for non-native speakers of English, releases Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, essays and a monthly newsletter highlighting good fiction published in English about Japan. Saku’s Random Book Club is his latest project to spend more time with books.
Patrick Sherriff 