There is a certain school of thought that suggests independent publishing is the easy option, used by people who either can’t get a traditional publisher or those who want to get their book out there with only the smallest amount of effort.

To some extent, independent publishing isn’t that hard. Hitting the ‘publish’ button is easy. Some aspects of the publishing process might be new, but they’re not all hard. They’re often something you can learn.

But whether or not certain skills and processes are considered to be ‘hard’ to learn and master, what we can’t deny is that independent publishing involves hard work.

Independent publishing might look like an easy route to some, but if you are really serious about a career as an author – as so many of us independent publishers are – it definitely is not the easy option.

First, there’s the task of writing a really good book that people actually want to read. Then there’s the task of learning how to self-publish a book. There’s the editing and the proofreading and the formatting and the cover design and the pricing and the marketing. There’s the challenge of learning how to work with freelancers and companies on various aspects of your work, of learning how to be a project manager and creative director, of budgeting both time and money to make everything work.

Then, it’s the easy bit. You press publish and the book is out there.

But then the easy bit ends. Then comes the marketing, the social media management, the online reviews, the blogs, the never-ending quest to find readers, hoping that they’ll like the book and worried that they won’t. There’s the issue of sorting out finances and working out what to do if sales aren’t as great as first hoped.

There’s the whole issue of writing another book.

Don’t get me wrong, none of this is a complaint. Independent publishing might be hard work, but it’s still great. It’s excellent fun and it’s worth every second of effort. The rewards can be excellent and there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of achieving a goal and knowing that it’s all because of your own hard work. It’s wonderful.

But it’s not an easy option.