So my manuscript is sitting on my desk, finished. All the chapters, the illustrations my friend made, everything designed and ready. And now I'm stuck on the most practical question I've been avoiding for months.
Traditional publisher or self-publishing?
The traditional route sounds nice in theory. Someone else handles printing, distribution, maybe some credibility comes with it. But I've been sending queries and the silence is loud. My kind of writing is a tough sell, I know that. Publishers aren't exactly lining up for an unknown writer with a first collection.
Self-publishing means I control everything. The timeline, the design, how it reaches readers. It also means I handle everything. The cost, the marketing, the risk of it just sitting in a box in my room while I pretend I'm not checking sales numbers every day.
There's this part of me that feels like self-publishing is "giving up" on the traditional dream. And another part that knows that's nonsense, that getting your work out there however you can is what matters.
I've got until February to decide while exams happen and life continues. But I keep going back and forth on this.
For anyone who's published anything, books or otherwise, how did you make this call? And did you regret it or feel good about the choice later?