Do I need to find a traditional publishing company or should I consider self publishing?

Wow. I have recently had a bit of an epiphany on this. For all the years that I have been dreaming of becoming an author, I have been assuming that I wouldn't be satisfied unless I was published by a bona fide publishing company with a wide distribution. The whole idea of a 'vanity press' made me shudder - how could I claim to be a true author if I had to pay someone to print my books? And who would want them?

BUT the tides they have been achanging, and there are quite a few conversations and insights out there which talk about the advantages of becoming an independent author and using some of the relatively new (and very cheap) platforms for e-publishing via Amazon et al.

I think I might be a convert - I have seen some of the figures. You may not reach the same number of readers that you would with conventional publishing companies, but you should be able to get a much larger slab of the takings and you get to retain the rights so you can issue your book in other formats whenever you want.

And best of all for those of us new to the world of writing and publishing, it is relatively affordable and you don't have to face 100's of rejections. You certainly will still need to get your work professionally edited and ensure it is something you can be proud of, but you don't need to be weighed down by the years of plodding through the mire of trying to get noticed by conventional publishers (which seems to be a bit of a lottery by some accounts). So that's worth thinking about.

There can also be quite a bit of flexibility with the self-publishing route. If the e-Book starts to do OK, you could consider printing out hard-copies (one at a time or in small runs), and even sell them through distributors so you don't have to handle the hassles of postage yourself. Things are looking up.

I am very grateful to the many wonderful people who have shared their experiences in the world of writing and publishing, as they have helped me to realise that my preconceptions were stuck in the past and it is time to think about the new opportunities we have.

In particular, I would like to recommend an outstanding website I have found recently:

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Thanks Joanna Penn for sharing so much great information with us all.

Here is another good article on self publishing... there are many good reasons for considering it:
http://blog.bookbaby.com/2014/02/why-you-should-self-publish-your-next-book/