The other night I finished Jordan Rosenfeld’s A Writer’s Guide to Persistence. In it, she talks about self-publishing, and makes many of the points you do. She never says NOT to self-publish, but explains that it’s a very difficult, costly route — moreso than most authors realize. It was interesting reading your piece so soon after hers; they compliment one another.

As a side note: your definition of what marketing IS vs what most think it is reminded me of my time in fundraising. Everyone, including some colleagues, assumed all I did was write a few grant proposals, without realizing the bulk of my work was the research, prospect cultivation, donor stewardship, financial tracking, and reporting. The grant writing was the easy part and took the least amount of work! I think that clarification of what we think self-publishing is vs the reality is important.

Thanks for this!