before you self publish. . .

Consider the publisher. See what even a lowly epublisher--a good one--can do for you....here's a list.
Your publisher should:

1. Get you a reasonable cover. They know what sells (Or they should.)***
2. Find reputable review sites for you. There are a few that won't do self-pubbed books.
3. EDIT the story. Revisions, copyedits, final line edits. You ought to get a few pairs of eyes on that thing and a good publisher does that for you.
4. Maybe get some translation rights for you.
5. Put the book up at third party vendors, including a couple that don't do the self-published thing--although that keeps shifting. I wonder if Fictionwise is still closed to self pubbed authors with fewer than 10 books?
6. Did I mention the edits?
7. Promote you. Sure you have to promote yourself, but they generally have a presence on the web and elsewhere. Conferences and so on. At the very least, you'll find a few tweets and whatnot from your editor/publisher about you and every little bit helps. Right? Yes.
8. Keep track of the money and so you end up with a few 1099s instead of a fistful. Yeah, you can keep track of the money too, but the stuff trickles in from all over when you self publish. Of course if that money is pouring in, skip every bit, every iota of my advice. You got something going on that should not be tampered with. 

I suppose you can do a lot of this stuff on your own, but, oy, it's a PITA. I'd come up with more reasons, but at the moment I'm a curmudgeon and have to go kick the dog or clear the gutter or something.

__________

***I sure don't. I think many Siren Press covers are purely gadawful, but those books sell and sell, so never mind what I think. 

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