Why self publish?
When most people think of publishing a book, their first thought is typically traditional publishing. It’s been around for centuries, and dominated the field until the last few decades when self publishing came in to existence. There are tons of pros and cons for both, but in the end, an author needs to decide what’s the best fit for them. So why did I decide to go the self publish route?
Control.
I am very much a control freak, just ask my husband. Even without that fundamental piece of my personality, self publishing just makes sense for what I want to accomplish. It’s unlikely for writing to ever become my full-time job. I love what I do far too much to give it up. Which means that deadlines dictated by others are nearly impossible to make. As many of my fan fiction readers can attest, writing deadlines are hardly set in stone for me.
That’s not to say that I don’t set goals for myself. I like goals, and always have one in place for my writing. They just tend to air on the side of caution is all. Currently, I’m working on the second draft of Chasing Destiny; the first major revision of the story. I’m hoping to have it done and sent to Beta readers by the summer. Yet, summer is fairly vague, spanning three months. It’s a deadline, but a flexible one that makes me confidant I can make it happen. I highly doubt traditional publishing would allow for this. I could be wrong of course, but it’s a risk I’d rather not take.
No just having the ability to work at my own pace, I like being able to release the novel in whatever format for however long I wish. Traditional publishing decides all that for you. If you want to have an audio book and are going the traditional route and your publisher doesn’t want an audio book; then you don’t get an audio book.
Even with the out-of-pocket costs that come with self publishing, it feels like a win to me. Though, that could just be my controlling nature speaking. It helps that there’s a lot of information out there regarding estimated costs of self publishing, so it’s easy to save up for each step of the process.
Self publishing may not be for everyone, and my needs may change in the future; but, for now it’s the right path for me.
