Confused About Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing?
Me too!
I have been confused on whether or not I should self-publish my novel The Consequential Element. I've had many inquries on when it would be available, and lost sales over the holiday because people wanted to buy it for gifts and it isn't out yet. But, I met an agent and a small publisher at a conference who asked me NOT to self-pub until they had the opportunity to review my material. The said they would contact me 'after the holidays'. I have to say, it has been a long 8 weeks thus far, and I know I need to wait at least another 4 before I either get a response from them, or have to nudge them for a response.
In the meantime, I've been considering self-publishing. It is true that my heart is in the traditional route, but people keep pushing me into the self-pub route. They say that if I self-pub, then I will be able to build a better image for agents to discover me, or by self-pubbing I will stand out more with agents.
Then I stumbled across this post by Sarah LaPolla Glass Cases: The Year of Self-Publishing
At last, some clarity. After reading this post, my decision now is to wait. I will begin the new year with heavy querying to agents. I will give it my all. If, after 6 - 8 months I don't get an agent, then I will re-visit the idea of self-publishing.
Thank you, Sarah, for this post.
And thank you to all my followers. What about you? Have you been struggling with this decision? What made you decide to self-publish? If you are traditionally published, how long did it take you? Did you ever think to give up? What kept you going?
All my best wishes for a great, prosperous, successful, and happy new year!
Dee Ann
Hi Dee Anna,
ReplyDeleteI've just started a blog about self-publishing in Australia.I'd be interested to hear about your efforts.
http://australianselfpublishingsupport.blogspot.com.au/
Maybe we can do a bit of cross posting of information.
I'd like to hear from you.
Cheers
Rob
Hi Rob. My main objective is to try and get traditionally published, but if I don't succeed there, then I will most likely self publish. All of my efforts thusfar have been via the traditional route; i.e., querying agents, and such. If I go the self-pub route, I'll let you know. :) Thanks for visiting.
DeleteI've been wrestling with the samething about publishing. Like you i'd like to go the traditional route. I don;t mind self-publishing, but it can be expensive and not really sure if you gain any more readers that way especially with the low online prices. I'd be very interested to know which direction you took and please visit my blog I post short stories on for review.
ReplyDeletewww.thestorytellerslair-drattler.blogspot.com