Psst...Believe it or not...Self publishing is not the Devil.

   I've been doing a lot of reserach lately on the internet and from fellow authors blogs of wisdom. It would seem that the phrase 'self published' or 'uncontracted author' are some kind of dirty words that I was not aware of until now. I went through many months of waiting of watching email folders, of googling and researching agents and publishing companies. All were returned with a resounding 'No'. Most of them said I was a good writer and the manuscritps I sent were well written but they weren't 'trendy enough for today's current market'.
   What??
   What does that even mean? That because my book isn't about vampires and werewolves that it's crap? My husband told me I shoud take that as a compliment and I've tried to but I decided something else along the way. That I didn't need someone else's approval to decide if I wanted to market my own books or not. It would have been nice to have someone else do all the work for me but it's not a need. I found another avenue and have had pretty good success so far in the three weeks I've been live on the market. So I have no complaints.
   So. While I'm not bashing conventional publishing avenues, I am saying that if you go that route and it gets to be too tedious, because let's face it, writing books is a very popular and current thing right now and we are plowing offices with manuscripts just like everyone else, don't think that just because you take the self publishing way that you're selling yourself short or not gonna be successful.
   You wrote the books and should have some idea whether you think they're good or not. What could it hurt? People hate it? Ok. But what did you lose in the process? Not much. If people love it, what did you gain? A lot and you did it all by yourself. Put yourself out there and let the readers and fans decide because ultimately, they are the ones who make or break your career, not publishing companies and not contracts. The fans drive a book and an author. They are everything.
                                                               Thank you. Best Wishes and Happy Endings,
                                                                                         Shelly Crane