Tag: indie book publishing

Tradpub Versus Self-Publishing: Which Is Right for You?

March 11th, 2026
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Let’s get something out of the way first.

Self-publishing is not a consolation prize or compromise for those who couldn’t “make it” in traditional publishing.

Both readers and traditionally published authors assume that self-publishing is for writers who aren’t good enough. They insist that selfpub authors are poseurs who were rejected by every literary agent so they gave up.

For many writers, that is true. They did not do their million practice words, thoroughly proof their work, or learn their craft. They wanted instant results.

These are often one-book wonders. They don’t have the stamina necessary to keep going through lackluster sales periods, aggressive reviews, or simple burnout from minimal validation.

We will leave those authors to the side and discuss those who are certain they want to embark on a long publishing journey. How do you choose the right path for you?

I’m a self-published author, but I have nothing against those who pursue tradpub. There are benefits to that route, too. Let’s discuss.

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Traditional Publishing

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Tradpub authors have certain qualities, personality traits, and needs that may not align with self-publishing. What are those?

Writing to market.

Publishers want books they know can fly off the shelves. They are risk-averse and refuse to waste time on experimental fiction. You may be able to get away with it later in your career, but at the outset, you usually have to play it safe.

This requires a strong understanding of your market and niche. Not only do you need to get a literary agent interested with particular keywords, but you must ensure your first five pages immediately grab the reader. There’s no time for slow, meandering works (like the ones I make) or unusual structures.

Authors who don’t give a shit about trends will not succeed in traditional publishing unless they get really, really lucky. And that typically requires some connections to the literary world before querying. A weird cold query isn’t going to succeed.

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Need for external structure and motivation.

As I discussed in my post about intrinsic motivation, extrinsically motivated people do well in traditional publishing. This model has multiple layers of built-in feedback and demonstrable benchmarks to hit.

Being accepted by an agent is like winning the jackpot: immediate evidence that you’re doing a good job. Some literary agents will work with promising authors to get their projects up to standard before shopping for publishers, but this isn’t guaranteed.

After that, you have support from publishers, editors, and marketers. For many people, having so many cooks is comforting, as each assures you that your project can reach a wider audience. For others (including me), that sounds like torture.

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Willingness to compromise.

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Getting a book in readers’ hands the traditional way requires a lot of compromises. Literary agents may request a full rehaul before offering representation, while editors will nitpick every word. You don’t get to pick your cover artist, though you might have input in this. You also don’t get to decide exactly how and to whom your book is marketed.

Those willing to give up some creative freedom in service of the ultimate goal can withstand this kind of pressure.

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Patience and self-confidence.

This is not to say that self-published authors cannot be confident and patient; I wouldn’t be writing a ten-book series if I couldn’t handle some delayed gratification.

However, the journey to release day is often much, much longer for those seeking traditional publication. Some authors have to spend multiple years querying, and they may write several books before one is accepted. Even then, agents have to sell the book to a publisher, and then the publisher decides on a release date, which could be over a year in advance.

Querying can also be brutal on someone’s self-esteem. Getting dozens of rejections hurts, and not everyone can handle that. You have to truly believe you can make it.

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Primary focus is writing, not marketing or logistics.

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Tradpub authors don’t have to wear a lot of hats. They are allowed to work almost entirely on their writing rather than editing or marketing; someone else does that.

While presses are outsourcing a lot of their marketing to authors nowadays, they still offer a full suite of services to their authors that self-published writers have to do on their own. These include proofreading, preparing manuscripts for digital and paperback editions, contracting cover artists, managing ARC campaigns, generating sales material, negotiating with bookstores, and a general marketing push.

Presses may expect authors to do some aspects of marketing, such as press tours, social media posts, and interviews. However, there is comprehensive guidance here.

For authors who get overwhelmed by going it alone – or simply don’t have the time and energy to wear every hat – it is very helpful to have this structure from trusted experts.

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Lack of upfront funds.

And finally, we get to the cold hard truth: self-publishing is expensive, with no ROI guarantee. You have to pay for everything upfront and hope you might make it back someday.

In contrast, querying only requires a few upfront, optional investments. You can pay for beta readers, developmental editors, coaches, and Querytracker subscriptions … or you could not. Those who are very confident and experienced may need none of these things; they could rely on advice from seasoned authors, review free resources, and talk to other querying authors.

You will also receive an advance if you get accepted by a publisher. These aren’t typically life-changing sums, maybe $5,000, but that’s still money you got without spending much.

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Self-Publishing

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And now we get to self-publishing: my realm. Unfortunately, a lot of people get self-publishing all twisted up; they think it’s easy. All you have to do is write an okay book and stick it on Amazon.

Technically true, but unlikely to get any returns. There’s a lot more involved if you want to do it right.

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Unusual, niche, or difficult books.

As I said, traditional publishing is very risk-averse – and fickle. What got accepted last year might get a pass this year, even if the writing is exactly the same. Trends change quickly; publishers are running forecasts to decide what will be hot next year, or the year after that.

So books that refuse to play it safe will not fly. This includes:
- Hard to comp
- Challenging prose
- Difficult to categorize, with no clear-cut keywords
- Unusual structures
- Highly sexual
- Gratuitous violence
- Strange or “quiet” plots
Remember, literary agents are looking at books not entirely on prose quality, characterization, or plot, but also on what keywords they might assign to the work and how they could pitch it to a publisher. They need to immediately identify what audience this would work for and why someone might read it.

Books without clearly definable “hooks” will get a pass no matter how good they are. If you struggle to find clear comps or cannot distill your book down into “this plus this,” you’ll have a hard time querying.

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Need for total control.

You might hate to hear it, but yes: self-published authors often do not play well with others. They don’t want anyone else to touch their book, even if those suggestions may make the book more marketable.

Changing a plot sounds abominable. Removing a scene is torture. Getting nitpicky with word choice makes them explode with rage.

I am firmly in this category. I know my artistic vision and I won’t compromise no matter who tells me what to do. I don’t necessarily like marketing, but I do like having total control over my work from start to finish. Its success lives and dies by my efforts; that’s very satisfying to me.

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Intrinsic motivation and self-discipline.

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One reason selfpub authors burn out is that they cannot build their own structure. If someone isn’t encouraging them to write, they don’t. They get choice paralysis about plots and need someone to give them a sanity check.

They also might get extremely demoralized if they don’t get immediate sales because that end goal is the primary objective. These authors want to be famous; lack of interest is soul-shattering.

Self-publishing requires that you enjoy the process more than the result. If you want to make it, you have to write because you love it, not because you want others to love it.

This is not to say that traditionally published authors don’t love writing. However, I suspect that they place a little more emphasis on the exposure they can receive than career self-published authors do.

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Strong project management.

Traditional publishing takes much of the work out of the author’s hands. They do not have to do all the editing, all the ARC campaign management, all the cover design or blurb writing. This is a huge benefit and one that many self-published authors fail to consider when they start out.

In general, the self-publishing process includes the following:
- Outlining
- Drafting
- Percolating (letting the draft rest)
- First revisions
- Beta read
- Second revisions
- Percolation 2.0
- Editing
- Percolation 3.0
- Final pass
- Set release date
- Advertise release date
- Manuscript setup
- Cover commission
- Queue sales pages
- ARC campaign setup
- ARC marketing
- Pre-release marketing push
- Release day marketing
- Advertising
- Advertising monitoring and adjustment
Of course, this is for ebook-only. There are additional steps for paperback publishing, and those doing in-person sales also have to account for that.

Tradpub authors stop at the final pass and skip to querying. In contrast, I am responsible for every aspect of the process. No one is breathing down my neck telling me to do everything in preparation for release day.

Plus, you have to continue to market and advertise throughout this whole cycle, such as through social media and SEO. Good selfpub authors do not disappear for months on end while they’re working, so this often means queueing content in advance.

Authors who are unused to self-directed work and individual project management will struggle mightily to keep everything together. They may skip steps, procrastinate, and then panic as that deadline starts looming.

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Business management.

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Traditionally published authors get paid by their publisher; in many cases, the publisher provides them with 1099 forms or other tax information. Because they don’t have expenses after that first investment, they don’t need to track spending, set up a business account, or prepare their own tax returns.

Self-published authors, again, have to do this all on their own. We have to decide what to spend money on, how to track it, whether to set up a business, and how to calculate their income versus their expenses.

At first, selfpub authors may not have to deal with this much because they’re not making money. However, as their income grows, so do their business burdens.

Learning how to run a business is difficult and can be frustrating for some authors, so they give up.

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Initial funding.

Again, people think that self-publishing is free because it doesn’t cost anything to list on Amazon. This is true, but that’s not how to make a good product.

Yes, you’ve got to spend money to make money. Expenses may include:
- Beta readers
- Developmental editors
- Editing software
- Cover artists
- ARC platforms
- Advertising spend
- A website (highly recommended!)
And there’s the time investment, too. If you don’t have the time to market, such as by writing blog posts (hello), managing socials, or tracking your ad performance, you won’t do very well. Self-publishing is a highly competitive field, where you must fight for every sale. Pouring time and money in will ensure you get at least some returns.

For example, I’ve had some money difficulty lately so I’ve paused my ads. Sales plummet! I don’t have the upfront capital right now, which is fine. I’ll save up and start over later; books don’t expire.

I’m also not relying on royalties to pay my bills. That’s when self-published authors get into the danger zone, which is why it’s so important not to quit your job unless you are sure you have a steady royalty income.

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Each publishing avenue has its benefits and ideal match.

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Traditional publishing is great for those who:
- Thrive with external structure
- Write to market
- Have strong networking and self-promotion skills
- Can compromise with editors
- Do not have the time or money to manage all aspects of publishing
And self-publishing is good for those who:
- Do not want to compromise
- Can work independently
- Do not write to market
- Have strong project management skills
- Have investment capital and ample time
Neither is inherently superior. Neither says anything about book quality.

Traditionally published authors often go, “Someone says this is good so it is good! I got someone to listen to me, so I am better than you. You slapped garbage together because you couldn’t make it in the publishing world.”

Well, a bunch of shit books get published either way, so it doesn’t really say much. It only says you prefer a more structured environment and have extrinsic motivation. Those are personal qualities and not talent indicators.

Meanwhile, self-published authors argue, “I’m an iconoclast and rebel! I’m making real art that speaks to a select audience, unlike those sellouts who pander to a bunch of stuck-up gatekeepers.”

And again, a bunch of shit books get self-published. Choosing this route says you want complete artistic freedom and are more tolerant of risk. Still personal qualities, still not talent indicators.

It’s possible to go from one to the other, of course. Some self-published authors get signed by publishers, and some traditionally published authors decide to withdraw their books and go their own way. This is rarer, but it happens, so you shouldn’t feel locked into either route.

What really matters isn’t how your book got out there. It’s whether you stuck with it, spent the time to polish your work, and kept going when things were hard. Grit over glory, grind over gatekeeping.

I hope this helped you decide which route most speaks to you. Regardless of your choice, I’m cheering you on.
The Flywheel Effect in Self-Publishing: Practical Tips for Sustainable Success

February 21st, 2026

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You’re probably tired of me saying this, but yes: self-publishing is a marathon, not a sprint. I’m in the early stages of my marathon still, but I’m looking forward and gathering research that I’d like to share with you. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

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Before you can become successful, you must mentally transform your passion project into a product.

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In addition to being a marathon, self-publishing is also a business. You want to make money from your books, and therefore, you are running a business.

This means once the book is for sale, you don’t think about it like your baby anymore. It becomes something that you aggressively market, regardless of how that marketing lands, and stop obsessing over so that you can write more books.

I love my books and work really hard on them, but once they’re published, they are products. I am not sitting here pondering them anymore. I’m onto the next book in the series. I don’t reread them for hours or worry about reviews other than for visibility.

That is likely because I have strong intrinsic motivation, so once my favorite part (writing) is over, I’ve wrung out all the dopamine I can get from the book and I’m okay with it becoming a product.

Now, once we’ve done the baby-to-product magic trick, we can look at the rest of the equation.

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Leveraging the Flywheel Effect will benefit you more than waiting for your lucky break.

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In business (including self-publishing, which is a business), there is a concept called the Flywheel Effect. Essentially, this means that every small push of the wheel compounds until the machine clicks into action and starts spinning like crazy.

You can’t really say the exact motion that caused that massive increase because you were spinning it for so long; they all worked together until their collective momentum tipped the scales.

The problem is that people who aren’t product-oriented will sit around waiting for their lucky break. They want someone to jump in and give that flywheel a god-killing spin. In many cases, they try to achieve this through bombing out with advertisements, spamming boards to advertise their book, and daydreaming a lot about what their book will look like as a movie.

And they don’t succeed, because they aren’t thinking of momentum. I understand why.

Spinning the indie flywheel is fucking boring. It’s tedious. It’s exhausting. Day after day, page after page. Of course someone would want to bypass that in one fell swoop; it would be easy. They’d sit back and let someone else do everything.

But it’s not realistic.

There are no free lunches in publishing. If you want the results, you’ve got to put in the work. You’re doing this all by yourself. No movie exec is trawling Amazon pages looking for a new idea. No publisher is lying in bed praying to connect with you.

Everything comes down to you. Your talent, your passion, your dedication, your resilience. And, yes, in the later stages, your money. We’ll get back to that in a bit.

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“Big break” thinking makes you more vulnerable to scams.

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I’ve discussed self-publishing scams in detail before, so I will quickly review this part. Essentially, anyone offering you instant success, like tons of reviews or comprehensive self-publishing support, is likely scamming you. They are preying on your dreams of stardom to line their pockets.

Remembering that you have to do this all by yourself will keep your wallet shut and your integrity intact. You have to spin the flywheel – no one else can do it for you.

I’m constantly being bombarded with scams, particularly book club scams. These are a peculiar scam unique to self-publishing, when some random person emails you out of the blue promising to get you 20 or 50 reviews for a “small tip” to each reader. Which, of course, means like $500 bucks for 20 reviews. Insane numbers.

But because I know I have to do all the work myself, I go, “nope, not interested.” And thus I am not out thousands of wasted dollars.

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Small celebrations lead to big results.

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This seems contradictory, right? We’re constantly told that if you want success, you have to dream big and not let anything stand in your way.

Ah. Of course. It’s black-and-white thinking again. Doesn’t it seem to show up everywhere?

See, the problem with this all-or-nothing mindset is that it demotivates you. When you’re focused on that huge, enormous goal, all the little wins – the excited reviews, the seven-day sales streak, the ten hits on your website – don’t seem to matter. You disregard them, then go, “Why does no one like my book?”

But those little wins are exactly what spins the flywheel.

One sale is an opportunity to convert others through word-of-mouth. Your readers aren’t passive participants; they talk about things they like with other readers who share their taste. That recommendation begets more sales, and more sales, and so on.

One website hit may lead to a newsletter subscription. If you have a good newsletter or blog posts (I think I do), then that reader may suggest others sign up too, or they may reference something you said and credit you.

One glance at your socials may result in a follow, and thus more opportunities to sell. If you have a fun, relaxed social media strategy, where you talk to your followers like people, then they start to look forward to seeing you pop up on their dashboard. They share what you post. They talk about you.

It’s hard work and can often feel like you’re shouting into the void. But remember: every action is another spin. Every sale, every post, every review. The more you spin, the closer you get to your flywheel moment. It all adds up, even when it seems like nothing is happening.

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To get the flywheel in motion, you must write multiple books.

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“Big break” indie authors often get caught in a fatal trap. They spend years upon years writing one singular book, then publish it, assuming they’ll reach worldwide acclaim if they keep marketing. Then they get very few sales and are very sad and never try again.

One-off books by unknown authors do not often sell well, and there’s a few reasons for this.

The algorithm does not know how to categorize you. Each reader is a data point for Amazon and other platforms. If a reader likes your book and gives it five stars, then the algorithm analyzes their other reviews to determine what kind of reader will like your books. The more reviews and books you have available, the deeper understanding the algorithm can develop, and the more precise the targeting. This means your ad conversion rates will go up: you’re getting more readers for cheaper.

Your readthrough rates drop your advertising costs. In general, indie authors get about a 30-50% readthrough rate from the first book to the second. If the reader likes your second book, they are likely to stick with you through the rest of the series. This means that for every ten people who buy your first book, you’ll get three to five more sales of your second book. The more books you have available, the more likely that you’ll get additional sales by simply advertising your first one.

More available content improves your SEO. This is why having a website is so important. Every keyword you use trains Google and other search engines to associate certain words with your brand. The more content, the more keywords, the more hits, and the more potential sales. You simply can’t build enough content around one book to start ranking.

You build name recognition. If a reader only gets one chance to engage with you, they’re not going to remember your name. This means they may recommend you once, right after reading your book, and then forget about you. More books means you’ll be stickier in a reader’s mind, and they will bring you up more often.

You’ll develop brand loyalty. You need to give readers as many chances to engage with you as possible (which is why having a website is key). A reader who really likes you will subscribe to your website, follow you on other platforms, and share posts. When they’re alerted to a new product, they’ll hop on it – and hopefully, tell other people too. Then you start making faster sales on each new book, which boosts its rank and begets more sales.

So really, the best thing you can do to make sales on your first book is to make a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth book. Or eleven books. Or a billion books. I dunno, as many as you can, at the highest level of quality you can.

I have heard that the flywheel starts to really kick in around the 6-8 book mark, though I can’t confirm that personally. I’ve noticed a lot more activity now that I have five books available; hopefully, Absent All Light (coming June 23, 2026) will build even more momentum.

But it could also be because now that I have multiple books available, I’ve started advertising more aggressively. I know I’ll get multiple sales per ad click, even if it’s only one additional sale per five sales.

As I have said before, I am significantly in the red due to expensive marketing endeavors. This is normal for any business within the first five years. It doesn’t mean I’m a failure. You’ve got to spend money before you can make money, but you have to do it strategically.

I focus on the platforms I like, and, most importantly – I price really low. Reducing the barrier to entry means more sales, even if it means I’m not recouping my losses as quickly as I’d like. I don’t have the name recognition to command tradpub pricing yet, and I understand that. Once I’m more established, I can price higher because readers can trust I know what I’m doing, and they’ll be more willing to pay that premium.

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If you want one-off books, connect them with themes and keywords.

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Sometimes, your book doesn’t need a sequel. That’s fine. Don’t write one just because you think you have to; write one if you feel you have more of a story to tell.

But here’s a highly underutilized tactic, one that launched Terry Pratchett to international stardom: interconnected standalone novels.

The entire Discworld series is composed of self-contained stories, all set in the same world. I love Discworld partly because you can read the books in any order and still enjoy each one, even if you have no context.

This is a tactic I intend to embrace after the Eirenic Verses is complete; I already have some great ideas for stories set in the other countries of Eirenen. I don’t know what the series name will be, but it’ll be exciting.

If you complete your first self-contained novel, consider where else you could explore in your world, then group them together in a non-sequential series (Amazon lets you not display reading order). Ensure you use similar keywords for each book so that they build upon each other.

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Envision your priorities and ignore the rest.

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Now, let’s return to the actual writing. I’m ending here because, well, I want you to get back to work! You can’t spin the flywheel if you’re not making something to spin with.

Overall, the best advice I can give you for self-publishing is this: build a vision. Focus on that vision rather than the day-to-day disappointments. Get excited about your small victories while using the setbacks as data points.

Your vision could be a sprawling multi-part series, as mine is, or it could be creating interesting worlds. You could have short stories, character sketches, novellas, all with similar themes.

Maybe you develop a hyperspecific niche that draws attention due to its novelty. Chuck Tingle is famous for his “tinglers,” all of which have similar themes but focus on different characters. Say what you want about his writing, but he’s developed a vision and stuck to it regardless of ridicule.

Each writer has certain priorities, whether they realize it or not. Mine is technically precise, poetic prose and deep character development. Others focus on wordplay, satire, or philosophical themes.

Some people want to write popcorn thrillers, freaky smut, shocking horror, cozy romances, absurdist literature. All of these bring great contentment to the right writer – and exceptional enjoyment to the right readers.

Sticking to what brought you to writing in the first place will bring results. They may not be exactly what you wanted, and it might not recoup your losses, but it will produce even modest returns.

In self-publishing, we have immense freedom to choose our themes, find our audience, and create work we love, without looming interference from marketing teams and ruthless editors. Why would we squander that by ignoring what makes our heart sing?

Readers feel passion. They sense your enthusiasm and authenticity. In a market choked by AI, that energy is invaluable.

Keep your nose to the grindstone; or, rather, the flywheel. Know that the only way to succeed at anything – but especially self-publishing – is to keep going.

It doesn’t matter if your first book bombs; there’s no expiration date on literature. Spinning that wheel is far more productive than wringing your hands.