2. another author wrote a chapbook for Pagans trying to reproduce Ancient Greek religious practices. Extremely limited audience, so he did it POD through Xlibris. More of a public service than an attempt to make money.

And small businesses are money sinks for the first few years.

” A novel typically takes months to years to complete, and self-publishing is almost always throwing away any chance that any publisher or agent will pick up that work. That is most certainly a cost.”

And this goes back to what I was originally saying- self publishing is a good idea if your end result isn’t to get published traditionally or get an agent in the end. Even though most ppl who self published just see it as a way of cheating the system.

But I’m just musing some stuff out here. This is a brave new world were walking into. A lot of things are changing. If the long tail succeeds and self publishing is defacto standard, I think we all lose for so many different reasons.

I absolutely think self-publishing is right for some authors, but they should either have a hell of a platform or be ready to sell books only to friends, family members, and maybe students if they have such. If a writer knows their work fits only a niche market, or knows that she has a platform from which she can sell and doesn’t want or need to deal with an agent or a publishing house, then self-publishing may be a good choice.

The one thing I disagree with is that it “doesn’t cost anything.” True, there is no dollar investment, but a writer’s product is his writing. A novel typically takes months to years to complete, and self-publishing is almost always throwing away any chance that any publisher or agent will pick up that work. That is most certainly a cost.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with self-publishing if the writers have realistic expectations, and know what they’re doing. If they’re doing it because OMG I NEED TO GET PUBLISHED SO I CAN BE RICH then they’re doing it for the wrong reason.

If they’re doing it because they’re working on something very niche, to a small audience, and it’s something a publisher might not look at in this economy (something small, strange, experimental, something that isn’t a guaranteed blockbuster)then they should do it.

It’s a good time for writers to use this tool to experiment. Failure isn’t failure anymore since it doesn’t cost anything to do it. If writers want to try and do something new with it, try and create something unique with it- then why not? Not everything that gets rejected is a failure. Sometimes the market is cruel and unyielding.

Just my thoughts. If writers get past this whole fetish with print/desire to be the next Harry Potter then self publishing can be an interesting tool.