Self-publishing is great, but I don't want to be an icon for it, or anything else.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If you're going to self - publish, you need to know why you're doing it, what you want to accomplish, and how you plan to implement that.
I tend to write things and don't go the next step and try to get it published. I don't want to do book signings and stuff.
Maybe self-publishing is going to be an extra step added to publishing. Maybe what's going to happen is you self-publish a book, someone notices it - an agent? - and it goes from there into the traditional sphere.
Self-publishing worked for me. Being able to put your work in print, even if it's a tiny print-on-demand print run of a dozen or so copies, shows publishers and editors a completed piece of work and that you can follow through on a project.
I don't need to publish to make a living.
Publishing is a business, and I completely understand it. But when you don't have to depend on writing for your identity or your income, you can do whatever you want.
Print-on-demand and electronic self-publishing options have made it easy for anyone to set up a business as a publisher whether they know what they're doing or not.
What I've come to learn with self-publishing is that if you want to provide readers with something of equal quality, it requires the same amount of time and expense.
One of the things that probably drew me to writing was that it was something you could get on with by yourself. Publishing means going public. But the actual activity could scarcely be more invisible. And private.
I want to be an icon.