There are few things that make me laugh more than seeing the subtle campaign waged against self-publishing by those in the traditional publishing industry.

While it is true that the ease of self-publishing allows anyone with aspirations of writing to put their work out, and that a lot of it can best be described as ‘chaff’, that doesn’t negate the efforts of those who are serious about writing and choose self-publishing as the way to go.

After all, many involved in the traditional publishing industry admit that thousands of good writers with good stories are rejected yearly.

So basically, those writers should just keep sending their stories out, hoping to land a traditional publishing contract? Yeah, right.

I hate to break it to you, but traditional publishers are no longer the Gatekeepers of the Kingdom of Books. The internet, POD and ebooks have busted the gates of the Kingdom clean off their hinges; there’s a wide sea of talent and readers hungry to discover new names to read stories by.

Saying those who choose to self-publish aren’t serious writers because they didn’t go the endless rejection route is sheer bullshit.

Traditional publishing is in trouble, which isn’t news to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock.

Self-publishing isn’t the loser or second rate hack’s choice.

It’s the choice of those who don’t see the sense in waiting around to see their titles available to potential readers. Maybe some of them have tried shopping their stories around to traditional publishers.

Maybe some are like me, who hasn’t even considered the traditional publishing route since she was 11 years old.

I don’t lack the self-confidence or willingness to work hard. Comparing my writing on a technical basis to my traditionally published contemporaries, I can say that my stories have no more or less mistakes than theirs, with the help of my Story Tamer & MSWord to their professional editors.

Whether my stories and characters are as interesting as theirs is a different matter, but not one I’m afraid to explore.

My point is that it’s silly to ask anyone involved in traditional publishing their opinion on self-publishing. Of course they’re going to tell you not to do it; self-publishers are a growing source of competition!

Choose to self-publish because it’s what YOU want to do. Do some research; Bowker released the numbers for 2008 comparing the number of traditionally published books produced to those produced via POD & short runs.

I self-publish and I’m serious about writing.

My titles will succeed or fail based on my efforts and ability to write an interesting story and promote them to bring them to the attention of the people who matter – readers.

Readers are the ones who’ll judge them.

If you want to self-publish, do it. Don’t let anyone discourage you.

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