For every one book published there are many more that remained unfinished. For every novella that is created, there is a publishing house that won’t take it as they only want novels. Anthologies are uncommon and have to be sort out rather than discovered. Many books that have found readership through self-publishing would never have been accepted by a publishing house because the employees there didn’t think it had a market.
I write stories mainly in the genres of YA, fantasy, soft sci-fi and dystopias. I branch out and they become a blend of other things and probably would never be accepted for publication based on the story content and not the writing skill.
I choose self-publishing because it is an easier route and I know that your first works do not get published unless you are an exception and I am not. I figured that since I was putting all this effort into increasing my writing and storytelling skillset I might as well try and make something out of it. So I publish what I accomplish along the way.
When I look back on what I’ve published, I still have an idea or two that appear that would improve a part of a finished story, but once it’s out, it’s done. In terms of marketing, I do not know how to. I’m not a business person, even though I have to be if I want to make it on my own. My plan is to push out a few more books, maybe make a youtube channel in the not to distant future and then profit??? Lol. I’m mostly focusing on my writing skills and when I produce something that is maybe publishing house quality then use them to help me create a career for myself.
Stephanie Haggarty 