Member-only story
Some Pitfalls for the Self-Published
All self-published authors are up against a few pitfalls.
To my knowledge, the advantage to getting published traditionally (in addition to them doing marketing) comes down to polish. They hone the story, handle formatting, and make sure what they put out is so polished that it positively glitters.
As a self-published author, I do my damndest to give my work the best polish I can. I pay a cover artist and an editor, and I go over my work multiple times before publishing it.
But — while my editors have been good, they still miss things. And even after I run an edit of their edits, I still miss a thing or two as well.
The effort is there. And I believe that it shows.
Not all self-published books get treated with such care. Sometimes, no matter how much polish is applied, you can’t polish a turd.
When you come across such a work — and it’s well-reviewed and even clearly selling at decent numbers — it’s massively disheartening. I put a lot of time, effort — and yes, money, too — into my work. What’s that all about?
Comparison is never a good idea. That way lies madness. But it’s still good to recognize these pitfalls in being self-published.
