When I knew I wanted to write a book, my singular goal was to tell a story. I struggled with current events, rehearsed familiar spiritual truths, and tried to cope with what I saw on news programs. I had passion and a story I thought people would love as much as I did.

When I wrote my story, I focused on the plot, the characters and the setting. About a month before it neared completion, I thought more about how I’d get it into print. I read, I googled, I asked questions of friends, but I didn’t learn much. I knew the traditional route – hire an editor, find a book agent who finds a publisher and maybe you’ll get a contract – was hard for aspiring authors. And I knew absolutely nothing about the marketing of books.

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My author friend has sold millions of books. So, I scheduled a visit and asked for advice about getting my book published. He was honest and direct with me.

“Your audience is limited since many men don’t read fiction. And you don’t have a [social media] platform. Most publishers won’t consider a new author without that.”

This was definitely not what I wanted to hear so I asked, if he were me, what would he do to get the book published. He advised – very strongly – not to self-publish. I laughed when he said I’d end up with 10,000 books in my garage and I’d give them away as Christmas and birthday gifts for years.

I took his advice. It was easy; we had no room to store 10,000 of anything in my garage.

He suggested I go the Amazon print-on-demand route. If you’ve never heard of this, it’s a book printing service which only prints and ships a book when someone orders it from Amazon. (Readers can also purchase a Kindle download via print-on-demand.) So I hired an editor, checked the manuscript’s formatting and prepared to load it onto Amazon.

This seemed like a “win” for everyone. I got my book out there; Amazon made money from printing and shipping and no one had 10,000 books stored anywhere. It was amazingly simple. And amazingly disappointing. I sold fifty-five copies of my novel.

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Amazon print-on-demand is one type of self-publishing. There are various other self-publishing options. The two I remember require the author to 1) pay out of pocket for everything or 2) split the costs with the publisher. In this second option, you get editing and a cover design. If you want, there are publishers who’ll print your book for a price and collect the payment from you afterwards. (My opinion is Amazon print-on-demand is a fairer approach.)

I do understand there are many successful authors who self-publish. I just know it’s not for me. As hard as it is, I believe the traditional publishing route will help me produce better quality manuscripts and perhaps the marketing channels will help more readers find my books.