I have self-published 113+ books. Not hypothetically. Not as a case study. I’ve been through the KDP dashboard, the ACX interface, the CreateSpace system before it merged into KDP, and every formatting headache, pricing decision, and promotional gamble that comes with putting your own work into the world.
Self-publishing changed my life. After 33 years as a computer professional and senior manager, 20 of those at Trader Joe’s, I left to pursue writing full-time. My first book, Safe Computing is Like Safe Sex, went up in June 2015. A few months later I published Real World Survival. Early in 2016, Focus on LinkedIn hit the top 100 of all Kindle books after a targeted promotion that sold 1,000 copies in 24 hours and earned BookBub acceptance the same day.
Two of the books from that period are still in print: Focus on LinkedIn, which hit the Kindle top 100, and Real World Survival. That came out of running disaster recovery for a 16 billion dollar company.
None of that came from a course. It came from getting things wrong in public and paying for it, and too much self-publishing advice is a racket run by people who’ve published one book, or none, and sell the rest as a program.
What freedom does self-publishing give an author?
From Author Talks
Clare Flynn spent fifteen years as a marketing director before writing full time, went indie after the traditional route stalled, and has published eight-plus standalone novels since. She talked about the switch on Author Talks.
Self-publishing removes every gatekeeper between you and your reader.Share on X
Every gatekeeper between you and your reader disappears when you self-publish. No agent decides whether your book is marketable. No publisher determines your release date. No editorial committee tells you to cut the chapter that matters most to you. For more, see publishing types and your book works in any country.
I’ve published books because I believed in the market, like Focus on LinkedIn. I’ve also published books because I wanted to say something, regardless of sales potential. That freedom doesn’t exist in traditional publishing, where every decision filters through commercial viability.
For fiction writers, this matters even more. Genre-blending work, experimental structures, niche subgenres, and stories that don’t fit neatly into a marketing category all have a home in self-publishing. The market decides whether readers want it, and no committee gets a vote.
Amanda Hocking shows what that freedom can do. She was a group home worker in Austin, Minnesota, writing paranormal novels at night, and agents kept turning her down. In April 2010 she self-published her books as e-books, pricing the first in each series at 99 cents and the rest at $2.99, according to the Star Tribune.
Readers found her. By March 2011 she’d sold more than a million copies across nine books, and that month St. Martin’s Press signed her to a four-book deal reportedly worth $2 million. The gatekeepers said no to her for years. The readers said yes within a year, and I’d trust the readers’ verdict over the committee’s every time.
Nothing in self-publishing beats this part. I’d rather have a book out in the world selling modestly than sitting in a drawer because a committee couldn’t figure out which shelf it belonged on.
What Works on Amazon KDP?
A professional cover that matches genre expectations. Your cover is a thumbnail in a scroll of other thumbnails. If it doesn’t signal the right genre instantly at that size, nobody clicks. A strong Amazon description that sells the book. The description is a sales page. Treat it like one.
Reviews. Enough of them to establish credibility. When Focus on LinkedIn had 15 reviews, BookBub rejected me. After I sent out 1,200 free copies and collected 60 to 70 reviews, the same book was accepted. Reviews are social proof, and social proof drives purchasing decisions.
Correct categories and keywords. Amazon’s category system determines where your book appears. Picking the wrong categories buries your book. Picking narrow categories where you can rank gives you bestseller tags that build momentum. I use Publisher Rocket to find the categories and keywords with real search demand and low enough competition to rank, instead of guessing at them.
Back matter that works. Every book should include links to your other books, your mailing list, and your website. The reader who finishes your book and turns to the back is your warmest lead. Give them somewhere to go.
My own books go through IngramSpark these days, and I’ve found it a far more professional company to deal with. Setting up a book is easy, I get more control over where it’s distributed, and it still puts the books on Amazon. What I gave up is KDP Select, and for some authors that’s a real loss, so weigh it before you follow me.
What doesn’t work when self-publishing on Amazon?
Publishing and hoping. A book on KDP with no launch plan behind it produces almost nothing, and that’s the most common way a good book dies. The platform isn’t a bookstore where people browse, it’s a search engine. If nobody knows your book exists, nobody finds it. Cheap covers. I learned this the expensive way. My early covers were budget work and the books sat there. The same books with professional covers started moving. That told me exactly what the cover had been costing me.
Skipping editing. Self-published books already fight a perception problem. A manuscript full of errors confirms every stereotype about self-publishing. Professional editing isn’t optional. Paying for expensive marketing packages from publishing services. These companies charge thousands for automated promotions that produce negligible results. The marketing is your responsibility. For a real example, see making a living self-publishing, and for more on identity and self-publishing, see my interview with Urmi Hossain. Those packages are predatory. They find first-time authors at the moment they’re most hopeful and least informed, take money many of them can’t spare, and leave them believing their book failed when the package was the thing that failed.
A book on KDP with no launch plan behind it produces almost nothing, and that’s the most common way a good book dies.
Changing the book after it’s out. Once you publish, the title, subtitle, series and publisher are locked into the ISBN and the book’s metadata, along with a few other fields. Nobody told me that at the beginning, and I found out when I tried to change a title. I had to take the book down and put it out as a new edition. It worked fine, but it was a lot of extra work, and I only made that mistake once. Know which fields are locked before you press publish.
How Much Money Can You Make Self-Publishing?
Per unit, self-publishing pays higher royalties than traditional publishing. KDP pays 70% on ebooks priced between $2.99 and $12.99. Traditional publishing pays authors roughly 10 to 15% of the cover price, and that’s after the agent takes their cut.
The tradeoff is that you handle everything. Editing, cover design, formatting, distribution, and marketing. These cost money upfront. A professionally produced self-published book typically requires $3,000 to $7,000 in production costs before you sell a single copy. That investment is real, and anyone who tells you self-publishing is free isn’t counting the work that makes a book worth reading.
The book on this: Publish Your Book is 198 pages on every major publishing path, how the platforms really differ, and how to pick the one that fits the goal you have for the book.
The numbers work if you run it as a business. Price deliberately, pay for quality, build a backlist, market every month. It doesn’t work if you publish one book and wait for the royalties to arrive, and most people who quit did exactly that. I blame the people who sold them the idea that uploading was the finish line more than I blame them.
My take
Self-publish if you’ll run it as a business, and skip it if you won’t. I’ve done it 113+ times, and it changed my life. Budget $3,000 to $7,000 in production before you sell a copy. Price on purpose, pay for quality, build a backlist and market every month. People who upload one book and wait for royalties are the ones who quit, and whoever sold them that idea deserves most of the blame.
Should You Self-Publish or Traditionally Publish?
Traditional publishing gives you an advance, a team (editor, cover designer, marketing support), and distribution into bookstores. In exchange, you give up creative control, most of your royalties, and your timeline. The process from manuscript to bookshelf typically takes 18 to 24 months.
You get full control, higher per-unit royalties, and speed when you self-publish. In exchange, you fund production yourself, handle your own marketing, and accept that bookstore distribution is difficult without a traditional publisher. Neither path is universally better. The right choice depends on your goals, your budget, and how much control matters to you. I chose self-publishing because I wanted to write what I wanted, publish on my schedule, and keep the majority of every sale. That tradeoff has worked for 113+ books.
I’d make the same choice again tomorrow. What I won’t do is pretend it’s easy, and anyone who sells self-publishing to new authors as a shortcut is lying. It’s a business with real costs and real work, and the writers who go in knowing that are the ones who keep publishing.
| Factor | Self-publishing | Traditional publishing |
|---|---|---|
| Creative control | Full control | Give up creative control |
| Royalties | Higher per unit | Roughly 10 to 15 percent of cover price |
| Timeline | Your schedule | Typically 18 to 24 months |
| Production | You fund editing, cover and formatting | Advance plus an editor and cover designer |
| Marketing | Your responsibility | Some marketing support |
| Bookstores | Difficult to get into | Bookstore distribution |
For a complete guide to building a self-publishing career, including pricing strategy, platform selection, and long-term business planning, see Make a Living as a Self-Published Author. For marketing strategy after your book is live, see the Book Promotion Course and the Author Platform Handbook.
Schedule a free consultation to discuss your book project.
Publish Your Book is my complete self-publishing guide, starting with the first book I released in 2016. It compares five platforms so you can pick where your book goes.
