PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/10/12 -- Guy Kawasaki, New York Times bestselling author and former chief evangelist of Apple, and Shawn Welch, former senior media editor of Pearson Education, today announced APE: Author, Publisher, and Entrepreneur--How to Publish a Book. It presents persuasive arguments for why authors should choose self-publishing and how to execute this strategy.

APE's thesis is powerful yet simple: filling the roles of author, publisher and entrepreneur yields results that rival traditional publishing. Guy and Shawn call this "artisanal publishing" -- that is, when writers who love their craft control the publishing process and produce high-quality books.

"Writers are no longer at the mercy of large, traditional publishers," said Kawasaki. "Whether you're a bestselling or first-time author, the advantages of self-publishing far outweigh the disadvantages. APE helps authors control their own fate."

APE demolishes the myths that self-publishing is a fad or that it's only for family histories and grandma's recipes. Self-publishing is evolving from stigma to bragging point and is an industry on the rise:

• As of November 2012, more than 25% of the current Kindle Top 100 books are self-published;
• E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey remains a global phenomenon;
• The number of self-published books produced annually in the U.S. has nearly tripled, growing 287 percent since 2006, and now tallies more than 235,000 print and e-titles. (Bowker, the official U.S. ISBN agency)
  
  

"The publishing establishment doesn't want industry outsiders to know what we provide in the book," said Welch. "We're smack in the middle of a power shift, and APE is going to help tilt the scales in favor of writers."

Praise

• "As digitization creates a revolutionary opportunity for writers to become their own publishers a new self-publishing infrastructure has emerged. This book will become the standard guide to this new publishing universe."
  Jason Epstein, editorial director of Random House for forty years and co-founder of On Demand Books
  
  
• "Nuts, bolts, and inspiration too. Once again, Guy delivers, kicking the shitake out of anyone who would tell you that you shouldn't, wouldn't or couldn't write a book."
  Seth Godin, author and founder of The Icarus Project
  
  
• "Guy's book is the perfect companion on the journey of independent publishing and great reading for the millions who aspire to become authors."
  Atif Rafiq, general manager, Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon.com
  
  

Reviewer Resources

• APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur--How to Publish a Book (ISBN 978-0-9885231-1-1)
• $9.99 ebook, available here
• Photos and cover
• Additional information
• Artisanal Publishing: The Top Ten Reasons to Self-Publish
  
  

About the Authors

Guy Kawasaki is the author of twelve books, including What the Plus!, Enchantment, and The Art of the Start. He is also the cofounder of Alltop.com and the former chief evangelist of Apple. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA, as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Shawn Welch is the author of From Idea to App, iOS 5 Core Frameworks, and iOS 6 for Developers as well as the developer of several iOS apps. Previously he worked as a senior media-editor for Pearson Education. He also helped pioneer many of Pearson's earliest efforts in iPad solutions. Welch has a BS from Kansas State University.

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