Sometime in the mid-nineties, I ran out of space to store my books. I was living in a small apartment and the only shelf unit I had was crammed into my tiny bedroom. It was packed solid with books. I had gone slightly crazy in the previous few years buying books by new-to-me mystery writers. I’d read them all. Some I’d liked, others I didn’t. I kept them all because, in many cases, they had been signed by the authors.

In the past, when I’d run out of space, I had simply packed the books I didn’t want in paper grocery bags or cardboard boxes, and donated them to public libraries or Goodwill.

This time around, I thought I’d try something different.

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…

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…