To Self Publish or Not? That's a good question

by Judith Tramayne

Published on this site: May 11th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Today I had a lovely email from a woman who liked my fiction novel "Conspiracy" which I give away free on my site. I shot back an email telling her she made my day - what Author doesn't like to be told this.

She then felt confident to write back and ask me "should she consider making an ebook" which got me thinking - what should I reply? I came up with this:

Well that depends on what is important to you. Do you want to have a print published book or do you want to have it read by a global audience?

This page will explain why I like self-publishing on the Internet:

http://www.agoodread.com/selfpublishbooks.html

Then again you could have your cake and eat it too by having a print book and an ebook without spending any money - go to http://www.lulu.com to see what I mean.

With the way technology has improved since I first started writing, I don't think this is an either/or question anymore. Today there are so many options. Why not use them all?

You can have an ebook, an audio book and a print book easily. All it takes is having an entrepreneur spirit and the willingness to step out of the old model of "you must have an agent or print publisher" and step boldly into the new model of "using technology to advance your writing career."

Do you really think the major publishing houses won't come knocking at your door if they see your book is a huge success on the Internet?

Frankly, I know of a couple of Authors who were approached by a few print publishers and they declined their offer. Why? Because these Authors made way more money doing it their way.

So the question to self-publish or not is a very good question.

Judith Tramayne self-publishes her own books in her Book Club at http://www.agoodread.com and wants more Authors to enjoy the freedom she experiences every day of her life.