These days, self-publishing is much better respected than it used to be. It’s now seen as a viable, positive option for authors looking to publish their work, and the list of reasons for writers to give it a go continues to grow.

For instance…

Use it to build momentum

One good thing about self-publishing is that, as the author, you get to choose what books you publish, and how often you publish them. This means that if you want to build momentum by releasing two or three books in short succession of each other, you can. This is in contrast to the often more constrictive traditional publishing.

And, of course, it also means that if you don’t want to publish anything for a while, there’s nothing forcing you to do that either.

Find out what success means for you

Self-publishing is also a good option if you want to try different things and explore new ideas. You can find out about different kinds of success – it’s not all just about hitting number 1 on Amazon (although that is lovely), but also about pushing the boundaries of your writing without worrying about what your publisher’s going to say.

Challenge the norms

A point often raised by authors who publish their work the traditional way – even by authors who are passionate supports of traditional publishing – is that writers are often forced to accept book covers and marketing decisions for their work that they aren’t entirely happy with. The forcing of pink covers onto lots of “women’s fiction”, for instance, no matter how incongruous they are to what’s actually inside.

This is not the case in self-publishing; you get to choose how you want to present your own book based on its content, and are in control over all of the marketing decisions. After all, even authors who go down the traditional route usually have to do the bulk of their own marketing. You might as well have a book that you’re completely happy with.

Put together your perfect publishing team

One of the arguments people often make in favour of traditional publishing is that the whole thing is already set up for you – you don’t have to worry about finding editors or cover designers or someone to worry about things like rights. This is great in theory, but the downside to a ready-made team is that it might not be all that well tailored to you.

By contrast, even though it might involve some work to find a group of people you’re happy with, in self-publishing, you decide who’s on the team. It might take a bit of time to find your winning formula, but being able to choose your own editor and designer is great.

What do you think?