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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/3612
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I was reading on the meta site that someone thinks we're hostile to self-publishing, and I read over some old questions looking for evidence. I didn't really find signs of hostility, but I certainly did see several people expressing concerns about it. I think we've danced around the question a bit, but maybe it's time to look at it directly. What are the pros and cons of different styles of publishing?

I'm thinking we could look at:

1) the Traditional route - get an agent, sell to the biggest publisher possible;

2) the small publisher route - skip the agent, find a publisher directly (maybe I'm wrong in assuming that this is likely to be a small publisher?);

3) the self-published route - probably e-books, but maybe POD as well;

4) the vanity publishing route;

5) creative, new approaches - serialization on the web, co-operative writers' groups... what else?

I know it's a big question, but maybe it would be good to have all the ideas gathered in one place.

Original score: 18