Once upon a time, “vanity published” books were guaranteed stinkers. Even today, with high quality tools and a plethora of resources to help with every aspect of the publishing process, too many self published books read like poorly edited religious tracts from the 1980s or zines from the 90s.

I am, however, beginning to see exceptions. I’ve seen an explosion in self-published books related to cycling and fitness in 2012, including a handful that are worth recommending beyond our tight circle of true believers, and I expect we’ll see more of that in 2013. Guy Kawasaki’s new book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish a Book guides the prospective artisanal publisher through the pitfalls of writing, publishing and marketing your own book while avoiding the clueless newbie mistakes that have historically stigmatized the vanity press industry.

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