Is Self-Publishing For You?
Hands up if you’ve ever heard of self-publishing referred to as vanity publishing.
I studied Creative Writing at university, and it was always, always referred to that way. If it was discussed at all. It was pretty much expected that you’d get traditionally published or not at all. Even blogging was looked down on.
You know how many people from my BA are published, ten years later?
Three of us.
One has a publishing contract with one of the Big Five, after years of building her brand. Another now works on Neighbours. And then there’s me.
I chose to ignore the judgement from my peers and go it alone. Yep, that’s right — I dared to self-publish! That was five years ago. Since then, I’ve published nine books with at least two more on the way this year. It was a difficult decision, though. Self-publishing isn’t for everyone.
So, what is self-publishing?
Self-publishing has always been a thing. Writers such as Charles Dickens, Chaucer, and Beatrix Potter all self-published at some point during their careers. It became mainstream when Amazon brought out the Kindle and their publishing platform, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
When you self-publish, there’s no gatekeeper. It’s up to you what, when, and where…
