The Wonderful World of Self-Publishing

Original Illustration by Denslow

When the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum (who died on this day in 1919), couldn't find a publisher for his beguiling children's story, he joined forces with the book's illustrator, William Wallace Denslow to fund a private publication.

Little did they know then that the story would become a children's classic, spawning a long series of sequels written by Baum and a host of of other authors after Baum's death.

Since it's first tentative publication in 1900, the book has never been out of print - an argument for self-publication, if ever there was one!