When it comes to self-publishing, you can do it or not do it. There isn’t really a halfway house. Sure, there might be a debate about what exactly counts as self-publishing (does it count if you use a company to do it for you, for instance?), but for the most part, once you’ve decided to do it, that’s it.

But what about when it comes to deciding how to go about doing it? Once you’re in, there a few different options available to you. Let’s say you’ve decided to do as much of the process as you can by yourself, rather than handing the entire process over to someone else to do for you.

Once you’re at this stage, you can either leap in at the deep end and just go for it, or you can take your time.

Both options have their merits. There is certainly something to be said for taking your time over the self-publishing process. It helps to know as much about it as possible before you start with your own efforts, both in terms of what’s going on in the industry and the nitty gritty of how you actually self-publish a book.

But there is also the danger of spending all your time learning the theory of self-publishing and never actually getting around to the practice of it. This is similar, I think, to many writers when it comes to writing a major project for the first time; it can be all too easy to put it off, reading and writing about writing instead of just getting on and doing it.

So it is certainly worth thinking about jumping in at the deep end with self-publishing. Of course, this doesn’t mean publishing a book you’re not entirely sure about (we’ll assume for the sake of argument that you’ve finished your book and are happy with it), but rather just taking the plunge and having a go.

After all, self-publishing is a process that you really need to do to discover everything you need to know about it. Without having a go at it, you’ll never know where to look to find those good editing deals or the best place to look for cover design or copyediting, and you’ll never give yourself the chance to develop your own skills.

Maybe you’ll make a few mistakes, but that’s OK. That’s one of the beauties of self-publishing; you control everything and you don’t have to hit ‘publish’ until you’re feeling confident.

But what do you think? Are you a fan of jumping in at the deep end with self-publishing, or do you prefer a more cautious approach?