Self published book by published author-illustrator

by Isaac Millman

Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free)

Webmaster's note: I was recently contacted at my other site by a publicist seeking review for a self published book by published author-illustrator Isaac Millman. (Millman's page at Amazon.)

The author-illustrator of a series of picture books about a deaf boy named Moses, Millman had returned to the autobiographical material he'd previously explored in the Farrar, Straus and Giroux published Hidden Child, the story of Millman, a Jew, being hidden by a gentile family during the Holocaust.

Mr. Millman used Createspace.

Like many, I constantly submit projects to publishers with a postage-paid return envelope, and like many wait weeks, sometimes months for replies.

Even though I have had five books published in the last ten years, I still find it extremely hard to get new ones published. Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free), my last submission, is probably languishing under piles of submissions from published and non-published authors and waiting to be read. So I chose self-publishing.

There are services out there that specialize in preparing the correct electronic files for the printer. Having been an art director and illustrator for many years, I was fortunate in knowing how to prepare them myself. My friends and family were also very helpful in assisting me and I am grateful.

Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free) is my first attempt at self-publishing. Webmaster's note: Click to read the review at Best Children's Books.) Self-publishing brings financial risks. The obvious advantage to self-publish of course is that I got my book out there. Now the real work begins. Sell-through. That takes work plus a great deal of time.

I hired a PR agency. With some luck, a certain amount of publicity and marketing, Arbeit Macht Frei: Work Sets You Free may have some success. Otherwise, it will remain buried with thousands other published and self-published titles at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders websites.

Book publishing is a crowded field and with our economy in the shape it is, it has grown only more difficult. Still, self-publishing today is easier than once was. At the same time I’m in the process of digesting the experience.

Isaac Millman

Visit Mr. Millman's Bright Screen Productions.