It never ceases to amaze me the things people like to fight about. I have seen so many writers getting into heated arguments with each other over what I refer to as the “dumbest things.” One topic is self-publishing versus traditional publishing. In a nutshell, who cares? One person may self-publish, another person may wait to become traditionally published, which may or may not ever happen, but regardless of which option anyone takes, why is it something to fight about?

There are valid reasons for wanting to do each type of publishing, those reasons are typically highly personal. Sometimes people who are very young argue about it and say that self-publishing is a waste of time and money. Well, when you’re 21, that may be true. If you’re 51 or 61, you may not want to wait any longer. So sometimes age plays into the decision.

Additionally, sometimes writers simply don’t want an editor somewhere completely rewriting their whole story. This happens a lot. Editors used to simply look for errors, uncover plot holes, or challenge the writer if things didn’t make sense. These days, a lot of editors essentially rewrite the author’s story, in which case the writer may choose to self-publishing order to keep control of the novel and make sure that the work being published is THEIR work. Editors are not ALWAYS right. They’re invaluable, but they’re not infallible.

A person may want to self publish simply to get the ball rolling because they don’t plan to make writing novels a career, it’s just something they do on the side. In that case, why wait and go through the agony of sending out query letter after query letter only to be ignored, which is what happens 90% of time. At any rate, there’s great reasons for doing both traditional publishing and there’s great reasons for opting for self-publishing, but no matter what, it is definitely nothing to fight about. Authors should spend more time perfecting their craft and less time telling other authors what to do. Make sense? Write on!