Publishing Journeys Part 3: Self-Publishing

In the previous two installments of this series, I outlined two methods of getting your book to market. One being a Vanity Press, the other through Traditional publishing houses. 
In this article we'll talk about the once taboo world of: 
Self-Publishing
Nowadays anyone can publish their book. This is both a blessing and a curse. Most authors hail this a good thing. 
"Down with the gatekeepers!" They cry on a daily basis...I'm assuming. In some cases they're right. There are some truly fantastic books that would never have seen the light of day in the traditional publishing world. Maybe they didn't fit the market? Or, perhaps they were too niche for a traditional publishing house to explore...too risky. 
Self-publishing allows authors and readers that are hungry for something different to be satiated.
That's a good thing. But on the other side of the argument, without gatekeepers, there's little to no quality control for self published work (aside from the customers themselves). 
I'm sure if you scour the pages of Amazon, Nook, or Kobo, you'll find your fair share of poorly produced self published works. You know the ones. Those books that have a picture of a sword on the cover but turn out to be an expansive history of water beetles. They'll have ugly covers, and poor reviews (if any) due to a lack of editing.   
Without gatekeepers the marketplace is unfortunately saturated with books that aren't up to snuff. Books that gave Self, or Indie publishing a bad name...at least in the past.
While you can certainly find those books, authors have begun to realize that just because you 'can' doesn't mean you should. 
The 'thing' about Self-Publishing is, that although there are no gatekeepers, customers till expect a quality product. 
With traditional publishing, the publishing house would ensure that was the case. They'd give the book a professional cover, professional interior formatting, and had several rounds of edits to ensure the work is at its strongest. They would have done this for you. They would have paid you while they they did this. 
Customers still expect this level of quality. Self published authors need to give it to them if they want to compete.  
This is going to be an investment. That investment could be in time, or money, or both. You could certainly DIY a lot of the work, especially if you have a background in it. However, this is where most authors fail. They'll try to save money by doing all the work themselves, but wont take the time to develop the skills to do it well. Thus, their book never meets its full potential. While they may have spent very little to no money in order to get their book published, a poorly produced product isn't going to sell. 
On the flip side, if they instead decided to invest in a professional cover design, interior formatting, and editing they would have given their book a much greater chance of success. They could also have taken the time to gain some of these skills themselves.
While the investment of time pushes back the publication date, the development of at least some of these skills could become helpful for future projects. 
"Why would anyone want to Self-Publish? It just seems like way more work?" 
You're right valued reader. It is. But, aside from the previously mentioned Gatekeepers, there is also potential to make more money.  
As I mentioned in my blog post devoted to traditional publishing, which you can find (here). The royalty rate for self-published works is much higher. So, while you may not get the advance you would from a traditional book deal, as long as you've produced quality work that readers are willing to buy, you will make much more money in the long run. 
Another reason, is the ability to control each step of the process. With a traditional publisher, you sell various rights to your book. This takes away your ability to control how your book is presented to the market. The publisher may ask for author input and approval, but they aren't bound to it. 
Being able to control the process is appealing to most authors, even traditionally published ones. Some traditionally published authors have begun seeing how successful their self-published counterparts are, and have decided to switch to self-publishing themselves. 
Rachel Aaron, is a great example of a traditionally published author who made such an epiphany. You can watch an interview with Aaron here. The interview primarily focuses on her ability to write quickly, but she does go into her experiences with both traditional publishing and self-publishing throughout the video. 
Stay tuned for the final installment of this four part series! There we'll explore the intermediary between Traditional-Publishing and Self-Publishing...The Small Press!