Self-publishing an Ebook

Well, this is it.  I have decided to go out on a limb and publish one of my books myself.  Since ebooks have become so popular and they outsold paperbacks on Amazon last year, I've chosen to go that route.  This is quite an exciting adventure.  Of course I don't expect to get rich or famous doing this.  Maybe only my mother will buy a copy.  We'll see.  If you've ever wondered about self-publishing, come along with me on this journey. 

Research is extremely important at a time like this.  As much as I'd like to jump off that cliff right now, I'm going to take my time for fear of messing things up and ruining a perfectly good book.  There are a lot of articles on the different sites that offer authors a chance to publish their own work.  I've narrowed it down to two: Amazon and Smashwords. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.  Amazon, of course, is very well known.  To be honest I hadn't even heard of Smashwords until I started this search.  A fellow who published books with both places said he sold more at Amazon, but Smashwords offers the opportunity to sell your book to people with a variety of different e-readers including Kindle, sony-reader, Apple's reading device among others.  They also supply a seventy-something page guide to help you format your book, getting it ready to upload.  It takes you step by step through the entire process. 

I'm leaning toward Smashwords at this time, but I reserve the right to change my mind.  There is so much to do between now and then.  I have to spend time networking socially at places like Facebook, buy Photoshop and use it to create a virtual book cover, edit my book (no one is going to do it for me), and so on and so on and so on.  Wishe me luck... and stay tuned.