I spoke to an aspiring Australian novelist yesterday. She was excited at completing her first novel. It sounded pretty good, and I think it has real commercial appeal.

This lady had done all the things we tell aspiring authors to do – get professional editing, write a synopsis, etc.

Now she stands at the crossroads – should she self publish (AKA indie publish), or should she pitch for a traditional publishing deal?

This author felt under pressure from her editor to self-publish after a discouraging email about the prospects of being picked up by a traditional publisher:

There will be a mountains of rejections – if you ever hear back. And good luck trying to get an agent from England or America, they wrote.

“Is that all true?” she asked me.

The answer, in part, is yes. But it’s not the full answer.

It is possible to get a traditional publishing deal despite those obstacles.

If you have a passion for your story and believe in its integrity, then give it a shot. Just know you might have to invest six to nine months in waiting and follow-ups. And, yes, possibly risk rejections.

The good news is there are major publishers who will accept ‘unagented’ manuscripts from authors.

Just look at their websites for submission criteria.

So why the discouragement from her editor?

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t motivated by malice. Everything the editor said was true and could very well be based on that person’s own personal experience of being published.

Now we come to that fork in the road.

Trad publish or self publish?

There is no wrong way to go. Both are equally valid ways to get your story out there.

The days are long gone in which self-publishing was a second-best option. Far from it now.

Some of the most successful authors I know have never held a publishing deal.

The most important thing to remember is the key to your book’s success is in the marketing, no matter how it’s published. And a lot of the marketing you will have to do yourself, even if you have been picked up by a trad publisher.

My recommendation to this author was to try pitching to traditional publishers in the first instance – either by using their website contact forms, or by taking advantage of opportunities that come up through writer organisations that suited her genre such as the Romance Writers of Australia.

Is it worth it?

What do you have to lose? And, as they say, you never know unless you give it a go.

My last piece of advice to her was to start work on her next novel.

The thing which sells your first novel is your second (and third, and fourth, and fifth…).

It’s all about momentum.