To be fair, I have only recently self-published my own novel through Lulu.com, but i don’t feel its a bad move at all.

To be honest, I feel that it has been a more rewarding experience overall and I enjoyed the process. I still have a long road ahead of me, I know. Now I have to market and everything else besides, but again, I feel that in the long run, having put that much more work into getting my book out there will have a longer standing reward for me.

Anyone can write a book. Fair enough. Anyone can self-publish, true. But for authors who self-publish and then put the work and effort into making themselves known, that is the differentiating point.

If you write a book and it eventually gets accepted somewhere, what work do you need to do? Other that writing letters and sending submissions, there isn’t much involved. The publishing company (if they are decent) get it into stores and market it for you. Some even handle your fan mail

If you self-publish, you have to work that much harder. You are still, effectively, working on that book, long after it has been published. And I personally like that. As do other authors I know on Lulu.com.

Self-publishing is far from an easier path, in my opinion, it has and always will be in my mind the more difficult path. The work you have to put in is constant. If you take a traditional route and are successful, then what more do you really have to do?

You also have to remember, that self-published authors have new ideas, new styles. Traditional publishers will turn them down, not because they are not good enough, but because they are different. More and more, publishers are looking for things that they know will sell. I enjoy browsing self-published works to find all the different things out there. Some I have looked at and while the concept is good, it hasn’t been written well enough for me to read, but I let the author know where possible. I have a particular issue with book formatting and to an extent, grammar.

Have you had a look at some self-published works? I have recently read a few previews that grabbed me better than any book I can get in a bookstore. The authors in question are hopefully looking at distribution, for it is my belief that they will do well.

I know what you are saying when you say that many believe that self-publishing is a quick and easy route, and those are the sorts of people who will never do well.

To leave you with a little something, here are some very well-known authors/books that the world loves… and they were all self-published:

Beatrix Potter: The Adventures of Peter Rabbit
When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple (a poem we study in school)
Tom Peters: In Search of Excellence
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn
T.S Elliot
William Blake
Stephen King
Alexandre Dumas
Len Lamensdorf
Christopher Paolini: Eragon
Graham Taylor: Shadowmancer
Leo Tolstoi: War and Peace
Edgar Allen Poe

And there are many others besides… These are just authors who have written things I have personally read and loved and know have been successful