As a self-published author of smut, I often read about the pro’s and con’s of self-publishing. It seems to be a kind of Ford vs Chevy argument as each has it’s benefits and disadvantages.
One of my favorite authors, Lisabet Sari, just published a list of reasons why she feels self-publishing is the way to go. Below is her posting, clipped to the section on self-publishing:
1. (Almost) instant gratification. It took me less than an hour to get my new Christmas story up on SmashWords and Amazon.
2. You don’t have to depend on people (like editors!) who might actually know less than you do.
3. You don’t have to fight with cover artists who want to put waxed male torsos on the front of your book–ugh! Of course you do have to provide your own cover. Given my limited graphic arts skills, I sometimes wish I had a pet cover artist I could use and control…!
4. You can publish what you want (subject to the legal issues) regardless of whether it fits the current notions about what sells.
5. You can set the price.
So I was already feeling really good about this process. Then I got a note from a reviewer highlighting a couple of embarrassing typos in the new book, and realized there is another fantastic benefit. You can fix problems of this sort and upload a new version at any time. The new version goes live within a few hours at most. This would be a real pain–or at least a lot slower–if a publisher were involved.
I’ve been told that self-pubbed books sell more poorly than (some) books released by publishers. I don’t know if that is still true. In any case, my books with more traditional publishers don’t sell particularly well either…
Anyway, if you’re tempted to try out the self-publishing route, I recommend that you act on that temptation. You really have nothing to lose. Start with something short–oh, that’s another benefit of self-publishing, that you can publish even a 3-4K short story as a stand-alone. Follow the instructions. (Smashwords has a really excellent style guide/instruction book.)
I couldn’t have said it better and if you’d like to follow Lisabet, here’s the link to her web site: http://www.lisabetsarai.com
Larry Archer's World (LarryArcher.blog) 
Thanks! I’m planning to self publish in January, a collection of erotica vignettes, through Amazon.
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Good luck and let me know if I can help.
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Good luck, Sunny! Just take it one step at a time and be sure to read and follow the instructions!
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Hi, Larry! I’m delighted you thought my comments were worth reposting.
I don’t necessarily want to self-publish everything I write. However, I am delighted to have the option.
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Lisabet – I know what you’re saying and realize that everyone needs to make that decision for themselves. Like most things, the “right” thing to do is not always black and white. Everyone has other things that they have to consider before deciding to self-publish. For me I like the fact that I’m in control of my destiny and don’t have to argue with the publisher on what I want to do. As I’m a technical person, the technical aspects don’t bother me but they should be within the realm of most people’s capabilities.
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Self publishing is great for those of us that don’t care to be rejected by publishers and want our writing out immediately. From what I understand, even if you have a publisher, you’re stuck promoting yourself.
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