Joseph D'Agnese 10/24/26 Joseph D'Agnese 10/24/26

How to Publish Your Own Book: My Complete Indie Publishing Guide

I am often asked to give people advice on publishing their own books. I thought it might be a good idea to share the most obvious information right here on the blog so I can easily share the info in the future. I will update the links if anything changes. The content in this post is state-of-the-art for indie publishing in 2026. Bear in mind that these are simply my go-tos. Specifically, I’m sharing a) sites and software I use to publish my books, and b) sites and software I don’t necessarily use but which I know to be reputable…

Joseph D'Agnese 8/21/26 Joseph D'Agnese 8/21/26

Angry Joe Writes a Letter He'll Never Send

I tend not to show my anger. It’s a blessing and a curse. When I do blow my top, it’s usually at something in the publishing industry, ensuring that the only people who ever witness it are my poor wife or fellow writers. This has earned me the nickname Angry Joe in some circles. Angry Joe reared his ugly head earlier this week when something in the local community set me off, and I felt compelled to write an email that I’ll never send. As I explain in my SleuthSayers article this week, this is in a grand tradition that includes such writers as Abraham Lincoln and Ben Franklin…

Joseph D'Agnese 7/31/26 Joseph D'Agnese 7/31/26

Lessons from Writing Three Novels at Speed

Dean Wesley Smith is an incredibly prolific writer. He writes with his cats. I write with my pooch. Dean is adept at writing into the dark at speed. In other words, he does not outline his work before writing and sets for himself some remarkable word—count challenges. In a book of his I recently read, Writing With the Waltese Falcon, he shows us how he wrote three books—one in ten days, one in seven, and one in five while traveling on vacation. That’s incredible. In a column I share on SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, this week, I do a quick overview of the book and then share the story of my one and only experiment writing at speed. I’ve shared that story on this blog a few years ago.

Joseph D'Agnese 2/5/24 Joseph D'Agnese 2/5/24

Should I Self-Publish My Nonfiction Business Memoir or Find a Traditional Publisher?

Every couple of months I get a letter from someone asking if I’ll ghost-write their book. Typically, my correspondents are white, wealthy, business dudes. They’ve made something of themselves, and they want to share their hard-earned wisdom with the world. They think a book is the ticket, but they have no idea where to start. Someone told them they need a ghostwriter, and they start writing people like me. I got one of those emails recently, but this time it had a more interesting wrinkle. Besides asking about my services, the guy also wondered aloud if he should just self-publish the damn thing, and not bother trying to get a “real” publisher. This was a switch. Here’s why…

Joseph D'Agnese 8/22/23 Joseph D'Agnese 8/22/23

TWEET ME

I’ve been ghostwriting so long that I often feel like I’m living inside the sausage factory that is modern American publishing. Unless you’ve spent time inside the machine, you are likely to think that it’s a really big deal to get a book deal. It can be, but if you spent any time with authors you’ll quickly find that most of them hate the way their publisher handled their last book. Not enough promotion. Not enough support. Not enough…anything.

A few months ago, I told the story of the most egregious example of publisher-fail I’d ever seen. And this was for a book that the publisher paid six figures for…