Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing

First let's talk about what each of these mean.

Traditional Publishing - This is what you likely think of first. A publishing company takes care of the upfront costs to make the books and get them on shelves, and pay you an advance against what you'll earn from each book as they (hopefully) sell. They usually do marketing as well, and help you edit it to get it as perfect as possible before publishing.

Self-Publishing - This is what it sounds like. The author of the book takes care of preparing the book themselves (things like paying for an editor, paying someone to design a cover, etc) and pays someone to print copies of it, then is responsible for marketing and selling the book.

How do you decide which option is right for you? - This is the tricky part, and sometimes you won't know which is right until you've tried one way and realized it didn't work for you. Some people turn to self-publishing when their book doesn't fit in current trends, or they have trouble finding an agent. Some people might prefer traditional publishing if they have no interest in doing their own marketing, or don't have money to get started with self-publishing. There's no right or wrong way to do it as long as you stay true to what works best for you and your ideas.

Feel free to comment below which option appeals to you, and why!