Times Change, and so do Publishing Preferences

   Back in the day, self-published books were turned down, thought to be poorly written, and only sold to mostly the authors' friends and families with fifty to sixty copies. But once e-readers came out in 2007, that saved self-published authors. Despite that, even today, many writers and people will discourage self-publishing if the writer wants attention and publicity. It's amazing how so many people still don't trust self-published books and think that few reviewers and publicists will with self-published authors. They also believe that most successful self-published authors were previously commercially published. So many people suggest the traditional route, because, according to them, the average self-published book sells sixty copies a year.
   However, some people are starting to support self-publishing, and prefer to self-publish instead of publishing commercially. With self-publishing, you have full control over what you want for your book, such as size, bounding, cover art, and page types. It even goes much faster, like a few months, verses one to two years in traditional publishing. You also don't have to worry about having unsold books delivered to your home and paying for them, because most self-publishing companies are POD (print-on-demand) publishers. If your book doesn't sell, nothing happens. I see plenty of well-written self-published books, lots of publicists, bloggers, and reviewers, willing to work with self-published authors, and, more importantly, successful and bestselling self-published authors, such as Amanda Hocking.
    Despite the benefits listed above, self-publishing has some downsides. Some independent bookstores won't mind stocking self-published books, but most bookstores will only stock traditionally published books, such as Barnes and Noble. While many people prefer e-books, a lot are also still shopping for books in brick and motor stores. So anyone considering self-publishing their books, keep that in mind.
    Many bestselling self-published authors, such as Amanda Hocking, were probably just lucky to have their stories become incredibly successful. But I'd advise self-published authors not to rely on that. In fact, I suggest that you don't publish (traditionally or self) until you not only feel confident in your work, but also have others read it and say whether they like it or not. Follow the rules of writing and practice as much as you can until you feel it's perfect, meaning that you've done the best you could, and others like it just the way it is.
   Self-publishing is becoming popular, and may be, in fact, the future of publishing. Lots of authors whose books are good enough to be published by a major publishing house, like Little Brown or Random House, are choosing to self publish. So would you rather go for the commercial route or self-publish?