Self publishing: the freedom, the rewards

Over a period of three decades, I've gained considerable experience of these routes and have concluded that self-publishing - if it's done well - can offer authors the greatest freedom as well as the greatest rewards. It would be fair to say I've become realistic about the challenges of traditional publishing.

There's first the challenge of securing a literary agent - a genuine agent, that is. This can take years. Second, there's the long wait while an agent pitches and while publishing houses respond. Third, there's the equally frustrating delay between the acceptance of a manuscript and its publication. Fourth, there's the issue of royalties - the amount an author is paid and the structure of those payments. Finally, there's the issue of the demands of publishers in terms of marketing. Publishing houses today expect a great deal more from their authors when it comes to keeping their book(s) visible in a very crowded space. All these five challenges can cause a lot of anxiety, to authors old and new.