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Self-publishing is no longer sabotages a writer's career.

Until recently, self-publishing was considered "vanity press" and was very suspect. Vanity publishing implied that the writer could not interest publishers, who were seen as the experts, and therefore the writer resorted to paying to publish their own work. Vanity presses at that time did not have access to high quality printing, so the vanity books often looked of poor quality. It was also difficult to sell mass numbers of vanity press books.

Times have changed. Self-publishing is an excellent career boost for many reasons.

Publishers have lost their power as the expert. The Internet has proven that people are the experts, and the open source market is receptive to work that has been published without New York's stamp of approval.

Self-publishing can be obtained at very high quality now because of the advent of "on-demand" publishing. Even traditional publishing houses are using on-demand presses, because waste and risk are diminished.

There is no barrier to sales of self-published books, zines, or special publications. Resellers like Amazon will list books from self-publishers, and there are many alternative methods of marketing thanks to internet communities, including blogs and distribution hives.

E-books are another huge market for writers, and provide an effecient way to match your work with readers who are willing to pay for fresh new material on targeted topics that matter to them.

Self-publishing is exciting because writers can be more true to their mission of sharing information, insight or entertainment-instead of clawing into an elite inner circle who are actually building the publisher's brand.

Self-publishing puts the power back in the readers and writers, right where it belongs, and it is no longer seen as "less than" traditional publishing. If fact, "self-publishing" is seen as the dedication of a writer who wants to share her work.

Learn more about this author, Eva Smart.
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