Joel Friedlander is a book designer, blogger and the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish.
Joel is the proprietor of Marin Bookworks in San Rafael, California, a publishing services company where he’s helped launch many self-publishers since 1994.
He has owned businesses in graphic arts, design and book publishing. He was Production Director of Aperture Books, where he produced award-winning photography books. He founded Renaissance Press in northern California, a private publisher of hand-typeset and hand printed books. As the owner of Globe Press Books in Yorktown Heights, New York, he published books of memoirs and east-west spirituality.
A self-published author himself, he now helps authors who decide to publish navigate the often confusing world of self-publishing. He is known for his carefully produced books, beautiful typography, and an ethical and personal approach to his work and his clients.
His blog has become a popular gathering spot for authors, publishers and designers. His articles have also appeared on Self-Publishing Review, Publetariat, RIT Open Publishing Guide, SPANnet and other sites. Joel also writes monthly articles as a contracted author for CreateSpace.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure,
I'm the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, a publishing services company in
Describe your book ‘A Self-Publisher's Companion: Expert Advice for
Authors Who Want to Publish’ in 30 words or less.
A
collection of essays that introduces the new ways that authors can
publish and market their works using technology and social media.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
I created the book from blog posts, and the most
difficult part was selecting the 40 or so articles from a collection of almost
500 posts on my blog and then sequencing them so they made sense as a book.
What books have had the greatest influence on you?
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and
Healing Back Pain by John Sarno
Briefly share with us what you do to market your
book?
When I launched the book I used press releases,
blog articles and a lot of guest posts on other people's blogs to get the word
out. Since then I've continued an aggress that online book review campaign that
has resulted in over 40 book reviews.
How do you spend your time when you are not
writing?
Lately I've
been spending almost all my time developing training materials for authors who
want to get into self-publishing. Because book publishing is a somewhat
complicated and technical field, many authors are looking for a way to
streamline their efforts to get their books in print, and I see it as my job to
empower them to bring their books to market.
What are you working on next?
Writers change the world one reader at a time. But you can't change the world if your book is still on your hard drive or in a box under your bed. What I'm working on is fulfilling my mission to show writers how to get their books out into the world.
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