Lana asked Jessica Day George:

Hi! I love your books, especially the Dragon Slippers series...I will forever love dragons because of it. I am an aspiring author, and I'm currently trying to research traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, and I want to get opinions from lots of authors. Why did you choose to traditionally publish, and what are some of the pros and cons of it? Thank you so much!

Jessica Day George First of all, when I was starting out, there really wasn't a choice. Self-publishing at the time meant maybe having copies of your grandpa's journal bound for family members. But even with the self-publishing boom going on now, I have zero regrets about being traditionally published. I am not good at networking, I am not good at self-editing, I am not good at being an organized person or marketing my own books. I just want to write. Being traditionally published means that I can do just that: Sit down and write. Someone else advertises my books. They are available online and in physical stores all over North America and the UK, and I do nothing. Someone else goes to the Barcelona book festival and sells my book to foreign language publishers. An art department designs the covers, they hire amazing professional artists for the cover art, and I never have to pay a cent. A marketing and publicity department markets my book online, in print, and at conferences, and sends me to speak to librarians, schools, and booksellers, without my having to pay a cent. My editors have all been talented and experienced, and work with me for months to make sure that the book is exactly right. I don't pay them, either. I'm basically paid to sit in my house and write stories, or occasionally to go out and blab about my books, and a whole team of amazing people do the real work. It's pretty darn great!

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