Traditional publish or Self-publish

Traditional publish or Self-publish

I have been researching the difference between going the traditional publishing route or sticking with self-publishing. I have the query letter and all, however during some of my research I have come to understand that I would have to give up my first born child in order to get any real response from a literary agent. I find that it will take upwards of one year to finally get my novels anywhere. Only then, you are given royalties, and I have been the route of getting only royalties as it is based on what I sold. I have learned that royalties aren't that great anyway and you have to wait to get paid quarterly. Seeing my name in big bold letters in some famous newspaper would be fantastic, however I do not think that I would want to give blood just for that purpose. The idea of jumping through hoops, (i.e., a perfect query letter) rattles my nerves. My editor told me that I have a wonderful letter put together though. I started to think about how many letters must I send out, ultimately receiving rejection letters, and still waiting for someone to finally tell me that I have a good book and they think that they can get it to one of the publishing houses.

With self-publishing I am in control of my destination. I can sell as many books as I can get out to my readers. I can even control what my book cover looks like, as my personal cover designer is my artist son, who got his bachelor's degree in art school, so why would I want to give up control of something so important as that, since the publishing houses control that aspect anyway. I realize that I have to do all of the leg work, but I feel that it would be more rewarding that I was able to put out this wonderful idea that I had on paper and then tell people what the story is about. Also, with self-publishing their is no pressure on how many books I write and having a deadline.

I think for right now I will stick to what I know best and try to get my voice heard my way. Maybe later on I may decide to change my mind.

Until next time.......