Joleene, your pros and cons are spot on! Though traditional publishing sounds good, the journey is far more complicated in "real" life. My experience as a self-publisher has been so awesome that it motivated me to create my own publishing company. Sure, I am my own team. However, I am in full control from start to finish. And I love every minute of it!

Great piece Joleene, and certainly a BIG reason I decided to self-publish my nine bestsellers. CREATIVE CONTROL! I have been approached by traditional publishers in the past, but when I learned all they wanted to change and how I wouldn't have much say, well, that said it all. You can certainly become a bestselling and award winning author by self-publishing, and reach a massive audience. It just takes determination and work. Another reason I chose to self-publish was I knew I'd eventually adapt some of the books to film, and I know the lengths it takes to get the rights back from the traditional publishing house to do that (from fellow authors who experienced the same). NO FUN! It's true, it all depends on what is right for the individual writer/author.

One of the more important (potentially most important) aspects of "self publishing" (a somewhat dirty word in the industry--I much prefer Indie publishing), is the market research data readily available on Amazon book sales, categories, and keywords. Trad pubbed authors are mostly clueless of this data, or their need to analyze it, or even how to utilize it.  Trad pub is the wizard behind the curtain, they pull all the levers, put up the smoke-flash and whiz bang show of "publishing your book", and the author sits around dazzled, waiting for the masses to buy their books, praying that the world will beat a path to their door. "If you write it, they will come." Not. The harsh reality of Trad pub is this: you will be forced to actively promote and market your book, just like an Indie publisher, working every bit as hard on setting up promos and wrangling up an audience, so you can catch .15 cents on the dollar of your meager sales. The illusion of grandeur lasts a few months, then you realize that all the Indie published novels in your Amazon categories, keywords, and genres are nimbly using discount promos and Amazon Marketing Service ads and Bookbub deals and Facebook ads to outsell you. Out rank you. And they get .70 on the dollar. Indie publishers can get away with selling 1 book for every 3 books you sell, and still make more money than you. Your Trade pubbed book, with nominal support from your publisher, sees a momentary spike of popularity as a new release, and then nose dives into the dark obscurity of the long tail of Amazon, unless you, as an author, become every bit as nimble as an Indie publisher, doing all the work, all the research, running all the ads… except you don’t make enough money on the book sales to offset the efforts and cost of advertising spend (negative ROAS). You don’t even get paid monthly!Indie publishers take home a paycheck every single month. They give away books and audiobooks directly to their fans. They talk to their fans and recruit them as beta readers and reviewers. There is no wizard behind the curtain, there is no illusions of grandeur. So, when you analyze the two paths of publishing, take a hard look at the pay schedule and percentages, the market research and advertising demands, and audience cultivating process (website, mailing lists, social media postings, audience insights, retargeting, keyword research tools etc). The burden of selling your books is yours, no matter what path you take. Successful Indie publishing is a lot of work, yes, but it is also a readily achievable and duplicatable result, dependent only on the quality of your work, your advertising, your audience cultivation, and your marketing ability. The work of selling books is the same either way. Face the ugly truth: you are not Stephen King. No Trad pub is going to drop $500k to $1 mil on your book launch marketing and promotions. Their promotional budget for unknown authors is measured in the low four digits. So, who is going to carry your torch? Who is going to toot your horn? Who is going to sell your books and build your fan base? You are. Because if you don’t, no one else will. So, do you want to sign away your rights for life, so you can catch $.15 on the dollar, after waiting a year or two for your editor and publisher to decide the book is finally ready for market? Or would you rather dig in, learn what goes on behind the curtain, become the wizard, and launch your own successful Indie publishing career, and earn all the money? You can even direct sell your books right from your own website, and earn 100% of the money, capture 100% of your audience, sell them every book you’ve ever written, send them all your blog posts, and ask them for reviews and beta feedback. Connect with your readers, know who they are and what they like or dislike about your books. Your readers will tell you what they want, all you have to do is give it to them, consistently.

As an author with over 30 published books, and a publisher with about 400 authors counting on me (a hybrid sort of operation) ... the question that pops out here (and I've done ghost-writing too) is why someone with a book that they did, or did not, write themselves thinks that just publishing traditionally is a "thing"? To do that, it has to be accepted among the tens of thousands of others, so, unless said author is pretty famous... or has some special connection... shouldn't it be more like self-publish, or submit to NYC and try to win the lottery? (lol)  Also, for new authors, $10k is pretty high in the current market. A lot of the new books being picked up for good advances are being plucked from the independent lists by the big publishers after they have already established a following. It's still a tough choice. As you say, a lot more expense and work in self-publishing.  My press is sort of in the middle. We keep very little of what we make, pay 80% on ebooks, for instance, but this means our overhead and budget are small.  We advertise, but not like a big city publisher can do.  On the other hand, we pay royalties monthly and there is no "return against royalty" witholding as NYC offers (very few of my traditional books ever "earned out' so the amount of the advance is often the amount you will get overall, and they tend to keep the rights up to 7 years.

I am drafting my Autobiography and a Member of ASCAP. It is my understanding that I would have to seek out a Publisher. Am I correct or is there another process?

After self-publishing twelve novels, which I wrote to turn into screenplays, I would suggest every first time author wannabe, look carefully at the competition in your genre' and then look at yourself. Are you ready to become a full time novelist, or are you one of those who are dying to see your name in print? If the later, do not try to go the traditional route. Your chances are slim getting published except by what we call vanity publishers, which will take your money, and give you nothing but a few hardbacks, which you will have bought. Self publishing is easy inexpensive and you get out of it what you put into it. You also get to be the Boss, which is the best part.