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I think there are some benefits to both. If you aren't patient enough to wait six months or more to hear from a publisher about giving them your novel or if they decided to reject your story because it isn't good enough, then re-write it, re-submit it, then wait for an editor to tell you what you need to fix in your novel, then get reviews from your pre-published work from "real" reviewers, and then have to get yourself an agent who you have to pay a percentage of your profits to, plus the publisher, then go right ahead.

I submitted my first novella to Iuniverse at the end of January this year. I paid Iuniverse for the service, then uploaded my word document for them to convert into book format, and I also picked the cover design. After getting the author proofs and editing mistakes, I re-submitted it, and the novella ended up being put to market within three weeks of me submitting my novella. Of course, I only get 20% of the profits, but I don't have to pay an agent. As long as you know how to write, have a great story, and are willing to spend over $400 to publish it yourself, then I think self-publishing is the way to go, since you get to market so quickly. When you self-publish anything yourself, you should get some critiques from friends, family, and co-workers, to find out if you need to fix anything in the novel before submitting it, that way you know your story is as good as you can make it. The biggest benefit from publishing it yourself is that if you're a control freak over your own work, you can control almost all aspects of the publishing experience, without anyone telling you what to do.

From the research I've done, with both kinds of publishing, you still pretty much have to market, promote, and get the readers to come, yourself. Unless of course, you're a celebrity and can get on Oprah and the rest of the talk show circuit, then you have it instantly made. I think self-publishing is the future, especially since Amazon promotes its e-book device, the Kindle, and you can upload any book in pdf file to anywhere that accepts paypal and sell it yourself without a middle-man.

Learn more about this author, Cliff Ball.
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