People have asked me why I decided to self-publish, rather than go with a traditional publisher. When choosing a route for publishing, it’s very important to consider what your goals are, and what you are willing to give up or be flexible on in order to meet those goals.

In this case, the two goals I had are: A) To create and share my stories, and B) To make money by sharing my stories.

It is infamously difficult to get a traditional publishing house to pay much attention at all to your manuscript, especially if you are a new author and have no connections. That’s to say nothing about actually getting them to consider publishing your work.

I want to make it clear. I understand why they have to be very, very picky about what they choose to publish. Their entire reason for existing as a business is to make money. Authors (especially fiction authors like myself) are generally dreamers. That’s why we make good authors. Unfortunately, dreamers are rarely also blessed with good business sense.

By necessity, traditional publishing houses live, eat, breathe, and sleep what the general public want in a book. In order to make the most money, which is their purpose, they must give the greatest percentage of paying customers what they want. The result is that the publisher needs to have a significant say in how the stories they do publish are presented.

For many authors, this is something they are alright with. They are willing to give up some, or a lot, of creative control in exchange for a boost in chances to sell their books. Their greater goal is to make money, and that is perfectly reasonable.

I have never wanted to go with a traditional publisher. I already knew that my stories are…not what traditional publishers would want to consider. While at least a few avid readers who have read my stories love my work, I know that my stories aren’t a “safe” bet for a traditional publisher.

While I would absolutely love to make enough money from my stories to make it my full-time career, it is more important for me, personally, to be able to present my stories my way, the way they were meant to be presented. For me, creative control is more important than making a lot of money.

This is why I chose, from the start, to self-publish. I am just grateful that I have found an avenue that makes self-publishing easy. I chose to go with Amazon’s Kindle Self Publishing. The process is much easier than I thought it would be, and it did not take long for me to research the basics. I plan to write a blog post (maybe more than one) about it at a later time.

I will be honest with you. I am, as of December 23, 2025, still hemorrhaging money on my only book. (^.^’) I am spending about $100 per month on advertisements every month, and have made 2 sales on my book in…3-4 months?

I know that I can change a few things to improve my click-to-purchase ratio. One of the big things is to hire a professional artist to make better cover art for my book. Though we all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, we ALL do, and we know it.

I have the funds. I could hire an artist. But, I want my stories to also have my art, as…distinctive…as my style is. It’s important to me. It is a part of my style as an author.

I understand that this means I will spend a lot of money on advertising with little conversion to sales, for a long time. I’m okay with that. It will take time, but I want to find my audience. What I have to offer is different, unique. Not the safe, sanitized sameness available en masse, everywhere. It takes time to find such unique treasures, and the journey to find them is part of the story, in the end.

Since you’re here, welcome! I genuinely hope you enjoy your stay. Thank you for making that journey.