Pros and cons of self-publishing, in 2019

Meg LaTorre, of the iWriterly channel, discusses the pros and cons of self-publishing your own book.

  

Off the bat, one common strategy for some fantasy and sci-fi authors is to give away your first book if you plan a long series.

  

There is a lot of emphasis on freedom of control of creative content and schedule.

  

On the con side, the lack of “external validation”.  And you have to “fit the bill”.

  

She said the average self-published book sells less than one hundred copies in its lifetime. Self-published authors (usually) don’t have much scale.

  

She also says that publishing houses offer much larger royalty percentages on e-books than print.

  

Legitimate marketing events (bookstore appearances) are your responsibility.  When writers are introverts.

  

In a later installment she will describe her own self-publishing process for a major sci-fi novel. 

She did not discuss self-publishing facilitators (starting with Author Solutions) and they work in very different ways.