When to Self-Publish

I apologize to those of you who are doing self-publishing the right way and who were offended by my post yesterday. I did not mean to suggest that all self-published authors are obnoxious, in-your-face self-promoters. It feels to me like 90% of the ones I've met are, but that may simply be because they are louder and feel like more.

Legitimate Reasons to Self-publish:

You know a particular niche market and are in a unique situation to market your books to that market. (Example: David Farland's In the Company of Angels for the Mormon audience. Or a book targeting your audience as a motivational speaker where you know who you're selling it to and a publisher couldn't really do it better.)

You are writing a book for a limited audience, such as family/friends for a specific event. (Example: family histories.)

You are publishing the final books in a series which a publisher has elected not to continue with, mostly for the sake of fans who want to read more and feel cheated not to read the ending you intended. (In this case, it isn't about money at all. It's also not you pushing your book on strangers, but offering it to those who express an interest.)

You have the experience in writing to believe there is a market for your book and are willing to pay for the editorial help and the artistic help necessary to make a good quality book.

You have no intentions of being a published author, but just want to have a copy of something for yourself in a more durable form, to show you've achieved a given level of expertise. (Sometimes schools do this for children, though I sometimes wonder if this gives the wrong idea about publishing.)

(Possibly) If you are an adult and you feel that you may be able to get enough exposure from a self-published book that is very well done to attract a national audience and publisher. (I don't recommend this, but I do think it's legitimate. Sometimes people do end up selling a self-pubbed book, but a lot of the time agents won't even look at them. Examples: Time Stops for No Mouse(which I like), The Christmas House (which I dislike) , Eragon (which I really dislike), Hank the Cowdog (also like). My caution here is to be open about being self-published and your reasons for it without necessarily slamming the national industry. You want success there, so why would you be rude?)

You are in the comic book world, where self-pubbing is done all the time, and is basically the only way to work if you aren't with Marvel or DC. (My sister at mleiv.com does this and I think she does wonderful work. Also Howard Tayler who does Schlock Mercenary is great at this.)

Books I have self-published:

1. A family history for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, which I gave out to family members. Also, a family history for my father-in-law's 70th birthday party, also a giveaway.

2. My dissertation, of which I have a copy somewhere and the other 2 are at the Princeton University library. Also, my Honors Thesis from BYU, and my Master's Thesis from BYU.

3. My oldest daughter's illustrated book about the birth of my youngest daughter, complete with some fairly graphic illustrations for a 6 year-old.

4. The Princess and the Horse, the fourth book in the series that began with The Princess and the Hound, and which Harper declined to publish. I expect to publish a fifth book in the same series next year. I may publish other books this way, as ebooks, but I won't be hocking them at events.