It’s a common question I know I’m bound to be asked, so I might as well nip it in the bud now.
Why did you decide to self-publish?
Short answer… actually, there’s not really a short answer. But I’ll try to keep it simple.
Creative Control
While it’s a sad truth that self-published authors have to pay for cover designs and editors themselves (and it’s not cheap!), the enormous upside is that any decision is theirs—not someone at a publishing house, not someone who looks at your book as another excuse to make money.
Maybe I have trust issues, but I just don’t trust someone else with what I’ve written. It’s taken blood, toil, tears and sweat to get a finished manuscript I can feel proud of and truly love—even with hidden references to future entries in the series. Sure, it’s not perfect—but is anything? I can’t hand over all that work to someone who doesn’t know me, doesn’t know precisely what I want to say in the manuscript, doesn’t know what’s planned for future entries… and let them cut things out without my say so.
I’d be terrified they would change something so intrinsic to the story just because someone thought it would be better. There’s no objective decision; it’s all subjective and I, as the author, want to be the one to make the final decisions.
I’d be terrified of a pen-pusher at a publishing company saying ‘Cut out the diabetes’ or ‘Stick to one mythology’—that would totally ruin the very heart of my story.
I’ll Have to Market Anyway
Lots of aspiring authors have the adorable assumption that if they get their book traditionally published, then it will be an instant hit and they won’t even have to market it…!
Unless you’re J. K. Rowling, Stephen King or any other household name, it’s unlikely a publishing company will invest too heavily in the marketing of your book. They expect you as the author to do that. If I’m having to do all of that anyway, regardless of how you’re being published, why not keep the control and freedom?
Royalties
I won’t say I’m motivated by money. Heck, I hate money; it seems to be the root of all trouble in the world. Still, I’m not an idiot. I need money and I’d like to make at least a bit of a living from writing my books.
Now, whether you’ll make more money self-publishing or traditionally publishing is up for debate. At least you get an up-front with traditional publishing… but the royalties aren’t as good as self-publishing.
Admittedly, you need to pay printing and distribution costs and, when it all comes down to it, it’s honestly not that much. But when you get to make a sale yourself, and only pay for printing costs… that’s a nice amount in your pocket.
Gatekeeping
This links heavily with the idea of creative control, but one issue I have with traditional publishing is all the hoops you have to jump through. Write your manuscript, get it edited, write your query letter, research agents, send letters and manuscripts to different agents (and of course they all have different submission processes), then you might have to revise and resubmit, deal with inevitable rejections everyone gets… and that’s all just the start.
Even if you do get an agent, there’s no guarantee you’ll find get a publishing deal soon. And there’s no guarantee it’ll even be a good publishing deal.
And it’s all down to personality and timing. Approach the right agent when they’re in the right frame of mind and looking for the right type of manuscript… See why everyone says it’s all about luck?
If your manuscript comes to an agent who’s looking for YA Fantasy/ Romance at a time where love stories about vampires and werewolves are all the rage—fantastic! You’ll have no problem.
If your manuscript is about a dark-haired orphan with a scar on his forehead who learns he’s a wizard when the publishing world is looking for a gritty, realistic sci-fi book—even that might be an issue.
Who says your book isn’t what the public wants? The public doesn’t know what they want! Look at recent voting results over the past years…
I’d Give Up Otherwise
I started writing my first book, The Blood Crystal, back in 2017. It wasn’t until 2021 I even considered self-publishing it. I know that I’m stubborn and that I don’t want to play the self-publishing game. To quote Thanos, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” Because if I don’t do it myself, I can’t see myself ever having it published.
Sometimes, you just have to get things done yourself.
Great post.