About Us
Where it started
In 2014, at the age of 19, Chandler Bolt published his first book The Productive Person. Despite having no audience and no publishing experience, it quickly succeeded, soaring to the top of the Amazon charts and bringing in thousands of dollars within the first month. However, the royalties didn’t stop there. That first book not only inspired him to keep writing, but it supported him for months afterward, allowing him to drop out of college to start a business.
Four months later, Chandler co-wrote and published his second book Breaking Out of a Broken System with his brother, Seth Bolt, bass player for the band NEEDTOBREATHE. During this time, he also helped a friend successfully write and publish his own book.
That’s when people began to notice him, and the first iteration of selfpublishing.com was born. It started as a class of 44 people who had dreams of writing a book.
Changing lives
Later that year, a tragedy struck. Chandler watched as Kendall, a good friend of his fell to his death while on a rewards cruise for the company they worked for. The accident left Chandler forever changed, giving him a new perspective on life. He wanted to make Kendall proud and accomplish all the things his friend wouldn’t be able to.
While going through Kendall’s things, Chandler discovered Kendall had not only been following Chandler’s publishing journey, but had started writing his own book. With the help of their other friends, that book was published after he passed, continuing Kendall’s legacy to this day.
With Kendall’s book published, Chandler truly saw the power of writing a book and how it could help people leave their legacy in the world. He was more passionate than ever about teaching people how to write and publish their own books, and in early 2015 he officially launched Self-Publishing School (which would later become selfpublishing. com) to help more people realize their dreams.
Our purpose
1 book = 1,200
lives changed
We believe there’s a story in each one of us. By publishing your story, you can create leveraged impact and change many lives with a single book.
Our mission
Help our authors
self-publish 100,000
books by 2035
Our brand values
1. Honesty & integrity always win
We are committed to trust and transparency with each other and our authors. We help authors share their stories in the most authentic way by providing honest, compassionate, and helpful feedback. We are also always honest about our results and highlight the stories of real people.
2. Fail fast, fail forward, fail often
We believe that the only way you can truly fail is by not making the effort. Setbacks are a celebrated part of the journey and are opportunities to learn and advance. We are continually innovating, failing, and re-iterating to raise publishing industry standards.
3. Hard work & continuous improvement
Writing a book is hard work—but it’s one of the most rewarding (and potentially profitable) things you can do. We push ourselves and our authors past boundaries to achieve more than either of us thought possible.
4. Everyone Is responsible for facilitating change
Change starts with you. Your actions and story have the ability to change lives and businesses. Every team member is empowered to address challenges, innovate solutions, and drive progress—and we wholeheartedly welcome author feedback, so we can change for the better
5. Best Is The Standard
We aim to set the industry standard, providing outstanding opportunities and experiences for our authors and team. We also work hard to ensure each book is the absolute best, most polished, most professional version it can be before we hit publish!
Our brand family
Two websites, with the same great publishing programs, helping you in different ways.
Nonfiction
We’re the #1 resource for writing, self-publishing and marketing books online. Content here has a focus on helping you build a business or speaking career from your book.
Fiction
We provide the education and support you need to write & self-publish a novel, helping many aspiring writers become full-time fiction authors. Content here focuses on our community, courses, how-to guides, and all things fiction.
Want to join our team?
We are passionate about helping aspiring authors realize their dreams—and changing the publishing industry one book at a time.
