To Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish...That Is The Question! Self-Publishing vs.Traditional Publis

After I finished the first draft of my first manuscript, I had to make a decision. On whether to self-publish or try to go the traditional route. Well it wasn't much of a decision to be made, especially after I read how many times certain mega-star authors were rejected before they were discovered. What every writer should really consider is, "Do I want to get my work out there to the masses now, or do I want to wait a million years for some literary agent and/or publishing house to decide I have talent and finally give me a chance." So I decided to get my name out there to the masses first and worry about traditional later.

And as I go along this self-pubbing journey, I find out the pros and cons of both avenues. Self-publishing is hard...but you make your own schedule, get your story done when you want to and have complete creative freedom. With traditional publishing you do get someone to do the editing for you, someone to pay and design your covers and (hopefully) a fat check for a book advance, to be able to live while writing. But how many years would it take for someone to even give you a shot? Especially with my sub-genres, who's going to be brave enough to back them? But that's a whole other post...later.

It seems to me that publishing houses are more interested in giving book deals to celebrities than to aspiring authors. Case in point: The Jenner Sisters (The Kardashians' half sisters), Wendy Williams and Rick Springfield ('I Wish that I had Jessie's Girl' singer), just to name a few. Now I don't want to block anyone's blessings. And I completely get it when publishing houses give celebrities book deals for their memoirs. But when they give them books deals for fiction, it's like WTF! Why not give the little guy a shot too?! Plus, half the time they don't even write the books themselves...cough....cough...the Jenner Sisters...cough. I just believe that everyone should get a fair shot. Maybe if they invested as much time looking for that diamond in the rough, as they do trolling the celebrity pool, they just might strike gold.

So in the meantime, the little guys have to work our fingers to the bone to self-publish our work and get our names out there. Besides having the financial backing in the book advance and royalties (which I hear is less of a percentage than you get self-pubbing), that seems to be all publishing houses really do. I couldn't believe it when I talked to some published authors and they said that they have to do their own marketing and promoting, that the publishing houses rarely ever do it anymore. I wondered to myself, "Why again am I trying to bust my ass to send out query letters to literary agents, in between working on writing and hearing rejection after rejection?" Oh yeah, that damn book advance. But that's the only thing. If my sales could increase enough for me to live off of, I would gladly turn my back on traditional for good! It would be awesome to say, "Oh, you didn't need me when I was down, I don't need you now that I'm up." But who knows, if they dangle a sweet check in my face and I see an opportunity to move out of my parents' house again and afford to achieve my dream of traveling Europe, I'd probably be willing to do anything. Damn you green paper, with your evil hold! Only time will tell.

I didn't mean for this post to turn into a rant...Yikes! Sorry peeps! Hey fellow authors, comment below with your opinions.