Off the top, understand that ultimately you the self-publisher is getting ripped off. Now, there are legitimate things you'll have to pay for like word processing software and the like, a good proofreader / editor, a credible artist or art service if you don't have the capability and the unfortunate but necessary fees to get books printed and so on.

The main issue is; if you don't have the capacity to produce distributable materials for sale, you'll have to pay someone to do it. That's the price of doing business. Where the price becomes too high is when said materials creators take advantage of standalone or small publishers with exorbitant fees and 'fees-fees' which ultimately 'nickle and dime' the content creator to death. Creating and publishing your work is infinitely easier now than ever. Getting it into distribution is easy. Getting the distributed work to make the creator a profit is hard as hell! But, not impossible.

Understand that your initial goal as creator/publisher is to make back the money put into creating, publishing, distributing and marketing your work. As an standalone self-publisher or small publishing outfit, that's difficult to do up front. Right now those who are making the most money off of the booming and growing self-publishing industry are the companies which support the endeavor, not the content creators. The old model was; get your work out there, get it to go viral and then get picked up by a larger entity and get paid. That's not working anymore since the mainstream publishers of everything from books to web ads are spending buttloads of cash on projects to get that 'viral' feel so they can get a product into the public consciousness as if they'd whipped it up in a garage for nothing. That works for them in that they already have the means in place to take advantage of any increase in product demand.

There are so many aspects of self-publishing beyond the creation point that you'll need to understand in order to profit from your labors:

1) Publishing and creation of your marketable materials (i.e. hardcopy and e-books, DVD's and online films, hardcopy and e-comics, etc. and the potential costs of doing it yourself.

2) Distribution and Marketing which is easily the most long-term and expensive portion of self- publishing.

3) Protecting your work online within reason

These are some of the initial discussions that will be addressed in the coming weeks. If you have questions, suggestions and potential skills, resources or whatever which may be made available don't be shy.

SPC! The Coalition Lives....