With the stigma against self-publishing fading and traditional publishers being increasingly unwilling to take a chance on a new book, emerging authors are faced with the question: which route should I take?
There are success stories - and statistics of failures - for both routes, so deciding which route will lead YOU to success may seem like a high stakes crap shoot.

In January I began an experiment. I sent my completed historical fiction novel to my NY agent, Carrie Prostritto, whom I had recently signed with, and I self-published a  science fiction novel. I decided to analyze the results of both routes to publication for timing, personal satisfaction and financial gain. To learn more about how I set up this experiment  read my original post, An Experiment in Publishing.

The early results of this experiment are given in the three posts under the category 'publishing experiment'. It's now been a full year, so here are the comparative advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing and traditional publishing after a year.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING MODEL - My agent has received several positive comments about my historical novel, The Sorrow Stone (SS), but no purchase yet. She suggested I write another more typical historical fiction novel, and sell SS as my second book. We discussed a couple of ideas, and I began detailed research on one. I am now writing, and excited about it, while she continues to send out my first novel.

SELF-PUBLISHING MODEL - Meanwhile my self-published science fiction novel, Walls of Wind (WoW), is steadily increasing in sales each month. I am now selling 40+ e-books a month and receiving 4- and 5-star reviews from readers all over the world. In order to build on this base I wrote a second science fiction novel, called The Occasional Diamond Thief. The most exciting development here is that while at I was speaking at a conference (part of marketing WoW) a publisher became interested and bought the print rights to The Occasional Diamond Thief.
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Timing: Still no sale on the traditional route, despite my agent's efforts. And I will be writing another book with no guarantee that it will be published, either. This is not, I believe, reflective of my agent, who is excellent, or my book, which continues to receive favorable comments, but of the current conservative attitude of publishing houses.
As for the self-published route, sales are increasing as I learn more about marketing, and I know my second SF
book, The Occasional Diamond Thief, will be published electronically by me and in print April 15 (Canada) and May 15 (USA).

Personal Satisfaction: Two or three publishers my agent sent SS to let her know they loved the story, or loved my writing style, but their marketing department had reservations - they would like to see something else by me. This makes me feel a bit like a kid in school trying to guess the answer the teacher wants. But working with an agent to determine my next project was satisfying, and I am optimistic that this next one will sell.

As for self-publishing, well it did lead to an offer by a traditional publisher - EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. Although this is the goal of some self-published authors, I find so many aspects of self-publishing satisfying that I chose to retain the e-rights and self-publish the e-book. By doing so I have unintentionally added a third twist to this experiment: the hybrid book, which is jointly self- and traditionally-published. It will be interesting to see whether that is the best route of all.

Financial Gain: While there is a financial gain in selling 40 e-books a month, marketing, especially live marketing such as speaking at conferences and book tours, (which is necessary to stop being an unknown author), more than wipes out any financial gain.  But whatever route you take, you will have to invest in your future if you are serious about writing as a profession. The advantage to self-publishing is that it gives you a book, proof that you have something to speak about when you offer to speak. It's a door-opener now, not a door closer, thanks to those self-published authors who have really made it.

In conclusion, both models have a lot to teach an aspiring author. The years I spent honing my writing and story-telling skills while I was receiving feedback and rejections from agents and traditional publishers made me a better writer. Self-publishing required me to learn all I could about marketing my books - there's no one else to do it for you when you self-publish - so I gained the marketing skills that are, in fact, essential no matter which route you take. And that combination of writing AND marketing skills led to the sale of the print rights of my third book in this experiment. The publisher bought me, not my book: an author who can get 5-star reviews on her self-published book AND who knows something about how to sell the books she writes.

Success? We shall see. I certainly haven't hit the big-time (or even the middle rung on the ladder to success), but I feel like I'm definitely going in the right direction, and I'm much closer to reaching at least moderate success than I would be right now if I was still only following the traditional route. But who knows? My third book, a hybrid outcome of self-publishing, may take off. Or it might not. My next historical fiction, developed with suggestions from my agent in the traditional route, may be the object of a publisher bidding war. Or it might not. We'll have to wait to see which route is successful.

But I can say for sure right now that I am much happier juggling three balls in the air, and far less frustrated, than I was when I was only pursuing the traditional route. And it's likely that success in any route will increase the chance of success in the other routes.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A man with a good and bad side--or, more generally, a person drawn in two seemingly opposing directions. Is this the perpetual fate of the hybrid author?

I am now entering month 5 of my Experiment in Publishing, a decision to try both traditional and self publishing at the same time. What seemed like a good idea is definitely stretching me in multiple directions. I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing for an author.

SELF PUBLISHING MODEL:
All three parts of my novel, Walls of Wind, plus the complete trilogy e-book and the print book are now available on Amazon. In June, they will be available on Kobo, B&N and other e-book sites.

I ran a free giveaway of part 1 of my self-published novel the end of February, and it did result in increased sales. Surprisingly, the increased sales after the giveaway were more apparent in the book offered for free for three days, than in parts 2 and 3 of the series, although all sales increased. Yes, giveaways do increase sales.

Another surprise is, sales of parts 1, 2, & 3 outstrip sales of the complete trilogy, even though buying the e-books separately  is more expensive than buying the single e-book trilogy. This is likely because of Amazon's logarithms: when "Walls of Wind" is typed in, part 1 shows up, along with "readers who bought this also bought parts 2 & 3", but the trilogy doesn't show up. Whether Part 1 shows up because it was the first one published under that name or because it has the most book reviews, I don't know. Amazon is improving their method of linking books in a series this month; perhaps that will make a difference.

From May 11 at 8:00 a.m. until May 14 at 8:00 p.m., Walls of Wind: the complete trilogy, will sell at a 34% discount on Amazon. This is a sales option offered by KDP, which I'd like to try.

In mid-May I'm also offering a new story, a Dystopian Science fiction short called Concerto in Black, for 99c on Amazon.

I will never know if Walls of Wind would have done better if it had been offered through a traditional publisher, but I do know that in traditional publishing you are given 3-4 months to sell, at which time book stores and publishers give you a long, hard look that doesn't bode well for your career. The fact that my sales continue to gain every month would be irrelevant. With s-pub, time is on my side; with t-pub, it's against me.

The key to being found on Amazon, and making money at it, lies in having a number of books on offer as much as in marketing. Meaning I have to write another one.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING MODEL:
My t-pub collection of short stories, Connections, continues to sell, especially through speaking engagements. Fortunately, the publisher, an independent small press, is willing to give it the time to grow. This is an advantage of a small press.

As for the two manuscripts on offer with my agent - one had a very near miss with Sourcebooks. I can't decide whether a near miss is, in the short run, more or less frustrating than no interest at all, but in the long run it is a good thing - the editor is interested in seeing another book by me. Meaning I have to write another one.

JEKYLL AND HYDE:
I did not anticipate feeling so divided. As you can see  above, both publishing venues at this point require me to write another book. And I know exactly what I want to write for each. Some authors can write several books at the same time; I need to focus on one project at a time.
It's not a terrible problem to have--too many cool projects to work on--but it does leave me feeling torn.

Furthermore, the books are in very different genres, which means reaching very different audiences. To some extent, any marketing I do increases my overall platform, but this effect is lessened by writing in different genres. SF readers are unlikely to be interested in my memoir of PTSD, and the two groups hang out in completely different places. But I love science fiction-- AND I love historical fiction and literary fiction. There's a bit of Jekyll & Hyde in all of us, and when you deny it, you kill a part of yourself. Which many writers do. It's called branding yourself, and it's as painful as it sounds.

I'm eager to write that next historical fiction book, and I want my agent to know I'm all in with her. But I also want to write that next SF novel, and it's nice to work on a project I know will be published and read. It's an ethical as well as a professional dilemma.

So tell me reader, is there a way for Jekyll and Hyde to co-exist peacefully, or are they mutually exclusive? If so, Which one should I choose? What would you do if this were you? I'd love to hear your replies.

As part of my experiment in publishing - Walls of Wind: Part I is free on Amazon for three days: February 27 & 28, and March 1st. This will co-ordinate with the complete trilogy going up on Amazon on March 1st (or as soon after as possible.)

This post is month three of my Experiment in Publishing series, where I will be reporting on my progress this year in both traditional publishing and self-publishing. Read more about this experiment I began in January, here.

SELF-PUBLISHING MODEL: 
Part III of the WoW trilogy (fun acronym, eh?) went up on Amazon mid-February. Then the typeset copy came to me for a final editing before it went to the print shop. I now have 12 reviews up on Amazon of WoW I and 1 of WoW II. 20-25 reviews are needed for many promos, way more to make a dent in Amazon's rating system, but every review counts and I'm grateful to every person who wrote one. On Feb. 20, I picked up my copies of the print book. 

Thanks Marija, my cover artist at ExpertSubjects!

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING MODEL:
No word yet from my agent about the publisher who is interested in The Sorrow Stone, or the other publishing houses she sent it to. Patience, patience, patience. I have, however, been giving a number of talks about crafting short stories and about my t/p book, Connections, which is selling very well. Several people who bought Connections have bought WoW, even though they don't read sci-fi, because they like my writing. When my historical fiction novel Sorrow Stone comes out, I expect the two books will be selling each other, because hist-fic is more accessible to mainstream readers than sci-fi is.

TWO MONTH RESULTS

Timing: There's no comparison between the speed of self-publishing and the delay of traditional publishing. In defense of t/p, there are advantages to slow. In the race between the hare and the turtle, the turtle won because the hare slacked off. Instant gratification is more than tempting, it's addictive. But it takes years to develop your skill to the point where you can write a story worth reading; it takes months even then to edit and re-edit and edit again a story till it's ready. The t/p model FORCES you to do this; the s/p model tempts you not to.
Here is an excellent post on t/p versus s/p on timing:
http://kriswrites.com/2012/06/13/the-business-rusch-hurry-up-wait/

Personal Satisfaction: It was very satisfying to have a NY agent give her stamp of approval on my writing by signing me on, and it will be equally satisfying to have a publisher buy my manuscript. More so than publishing my own book? Yes. But the bottom line, the satisfaction that trumps all others, is having my book read and enjoyed by readers. Thanks to self-publishing, people are already  reading my book and apparently enjoying it. That is pretty cool!

Here is a good post about t/p versus s/p in terms of satisfaction that you might find interesting: http://tobyneal.net/2014/02/13/is-indie-publishing-worth-it-would-i-do-it-again-a-tell-all/

The sheer joy of holding in my hands this book, Walls of Wind, which I love beyond anything else I've written, was indescribable. Then I found an error in one paragraph right in the middle. The only editing oversight in the book. In the midst of beating myself up soundly, I noticed in a currently popular novel I'm reading published by Penguin, that the protagonist says her daughter is 18 on one page, then several paragraphs later, in the same scene, refers to this same daughter as being 17. I immediately felt better. It happens in every book, t/p or s/p. If the editors at Penguin can miss a slip or two, so can I. But I would be even happier if I hadn't. The upside to ebooks, is that I can correct it immediately, which I have.

Financial Gain: While my s/p ebooks are selling better than last month, likely because I have some good reviews and three ebooks rather than one on Amazon, I wouldn't exactly call it "financial gain". I might clear $10 this month. No problem - they'll be up for a LONG time, and I believe in this book.
 
Here is an interesting post on s/p versus t/p and financial gain. Read it, then go through every post he's written. (There are only about six, and they're all good. He does have an obvious bias, but given that, he has interesting things to say.) http://www.hughhowey.com/my-advice-to-aspiring-authors/

So my next step in this experiment is to try a free giveaway. Now, I have to confess, I always said I'd never give my books away for free. I'd work and work at them until they were worth buying, or never offer them to anyone if they weren't worth buying. But a giveaway of Part I, to let people decide if they want to read more of my writing, just makes sense. Getting the word out about this giveaway has taken an inordinate amount of time this month, and I won't know how good a job I did till the results come in. I've put the announcement up on every site for free books I could find, and tweeted and FB'd it, and asked everyone who knows me to tweet and FB the freebie for me.
I'll let you know next month how this strategy works for an unknown author. Cheers!

SELF-PUBLISHING MODEL -
Part II went live on Amazon without a hitch on Feb 1st. I offered free copies to science fiction readers who would write honest reviews - good, bad or indifferent - to help Amazon's search engines find it. 10 reviews were posted. I also put it up on Goodreads.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING MODEL - My agent emailed to let me know an editor at one of the large  publishing houses is interested in The Sorrow Stone, and asked for a list of comparable titles. We sent her several.

ONE MONTH RESULTS

Timing: Most of this month has been spent editing Part II and III Walls of Wind for ebooks, and the full print copy, and finding reviewers. Both of those things have to be done for a traditionally published book, also, although a publisher might help with finding reviewers for the cover. Or not - the publisher of Connections didn't. The s/p books take more of my time, but there is less time spent waiting in frustration - they are up now.
Even though a t/p editor is interested in Sorrow Stone, she still has to take my manuscript to her board, where it could be rejected for many reasons unrelated to the quality of the book, such as what books other editors in the house bring to the board and whether they'll compete. At least another month's wait to hear, possibly longer.

Personal Satisfaction: I love the covers of the ebooks and the one for the print book. Like, jump-up-and-down love them! I got to approve the pictures and the print style and say, "please make that colour a bit lighter" and "could you add a space between the blurb and my bio" all I wanted. That WON'T happen with a t/p book. I really liked working with the cover artist until my book looked the way I want it to. There's a lot of personal satisfaction in having that kind of control, and very little in having your future totally out of your control as you wait and hope a publisher will take a chance on your book.

Financial Gain: While I have obviously made nothing on the t/p book which hasn't been picked up yet, I have also made under $10 this first month on the s/p book. Feels like I've dropped it down a deep, dark hole where no one can find it, and maybe I have. However, the full ebook trilogy, and the print book, and the Amazon POD book, aren't out yet, and may make a difference to the equation. Next month I will take advantage of Kindle Free Promo days and offer Part I for free on Kindle Feb 27, 28 & March 1, in advance of the trilogy going live on March 1. It seems strange that anyone would download it for free, but not pay 99c, but there are a lot of sites to advertise a free book on, so exposure may be the prime factor here.

In conclusion, both models require a lot of hard work and a lot of patience. I was expecting the hard work, but not an equal requirement of patience. Next update will be on March 1st.