Self Publishing
George E. Hrabovsky
President, MAST

Technical features of self-publishing aside, I wanted to take a moment, or two, and discuss the feeling of having published at Lulu.
I have been writing, professionally, since I was 16. I am now 45 and until now have never published a book. In fact, I have only ever written one book, and it was garbage and too ambitious for my talents at the time.

When you complete a feature, short story, or report you feel a sense of exultation, you have done a good job for that day or week. When you complete a project that culminates in a paper you feel that you have done a good job for the month or two that it took. When you complete a book, particularly your first, you feel that you have made your life complete.

I suppose that someone who publishes one-two books a year might not feel this way. But my desire right now? I want to do it again! I don't know if more books will diffuse the exultation of the first. I do know that an enormous potential exists here for both personal development and raising the entire amateur scientist community.

Before I go leaping off a cliff, though, I do want to introduce a cautionary note. We must make sure that not only the writing in such books is good. We must also make sure that the science is the best that it can be. Those of us who self-publish must fight against the heady sense of egotism that comes from book publishing; I am an actual published author! We represent every amateur who fails to publish. If we make fools of ourselves, we are making fools of every amateur. It is a heavy responsibility!

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