As the mother of two sets of twins two years apart, Dawn Karlovsky of Algonquin quickly learned a thing or two about parenting, particularly when it came to organization.

Spreadsheets on which baby was fed and when to better communicate with her husband. Medical records since birth, such as vaccinations, all in one spot.

Other parents, teachers and strangers took notice and would compliment Karlovsky on her kids’ behavior when they went to a restaurant.

“You should write a book,” they said.

So she did, writing her tips and tricks down as she went and giving it the title “Project (Baby) Management.”

But considering she had four kids and not much spare time, finding a publisher or an agent wasn’t a priority. She turned to CreateSpace, an Amazon self-publishing company. Her book, which came out in 2012, is print-to-order; a buyer orders a copy, and then it is printed.

“I just kind of wanted to put the stuff out there that I had learned,” Karlovsky said.

Self-publishing has been on the rise, according to Bowker, which provides bibliographic information to publishers, booksellers and libraries.

The number of self-published titles in 2012 jumped to more than 391,000, up 59 percent over 2011 and 422 percent over 2007.

And more than 80 percent of self-published titles came from the use of eight companies, including the one Karlovsky used, CreateSpace.

Karlovsky, who works full time for Judson University, said she doesn’t rely on the book for profit, although it pays a bill here or there.

She plans to write a follow-up book, “Project (Toddler) Management,” and said she likely will use CreateSpace again.

John Domagalski of Lake in the Hills, who writes about World War II, took a more traditional route to get his books published.

“With the first book, when I was starting out and had never published a book before in my life, I ended up going out and buying one of those Idiot’s Guides,” he said.

From there, he researched publishers who handled WWII books and then submitted a proposal to just about any he could find. He landed interest from McFarland Press, a small company out of North Carolina, and “Lost at Guadalcanal” was published in 2010.

Domagalski followed the same procedure for his next book, “Sunk at Kula Gulf,” which found a slightly larger publisher, Potomac Books Inc.

For his most recent book, which came out earlier this year, Domagalski was able to find an agent.

He was recently on a business trip in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and stopped in a Barnes and Noble, where he saw his book, “Into the Dark Water: The Story of Three Officers and PT-109,” on the shelf.

It tells the story of three naval officers of the warship made famous by John F. Kennedy.

“I had to make the decision that every potential author has to make: Do you want to self-publish, or try to get in with a publisher,” Domagalski said. “There are definitely pros and cons to both of them.”

Self-publishers control the content pretty much 100 percent, while publishers come with editors who may want to make changes the author isn’t inclined to make, he said.

“The downside [to self-publishing is] that you’re pretty much on your own in terms of trying to create marketing and awareness of your book and even getting reviews done,” Domagalski said.

Publishers also get a cut of the profits because they’re handling the up-front costs, he said.

“You’re basically going to get a royalty as part of your contract you sign up front,” Domagalski said. “You’re going to get a percentage of every book that has sold.”

At 76 years old, Larry D. Quick didn’t want to get the runaround from publishers, so he chose to self-publish his novel “Fate Rode the Wind.”

Quick, who taught at Crystal Lake Central High School for 36 years, wrote the story of an Illinois farm family that buys a rundown farmstead in the time after the Great Depression and the end of WWII.

He used iUniverse to publish and the book, which is available on Amazon and through the Barnes and Noble website, came out in April.

Quick said he has had a few signings, including at the book’s setting in Atwood and has sold books here and there.

He has other ideas for future publications, including short stories, poems and children’s books that he would like to illustrate.

“If you self-publish, there’s always a possibility that someone will pick it up and read it and want to have a publisher do it – that’s what you hope for,” Quick said. “I chose to self-publish and see what would happen.”