[Dusk]

Victoria Strauss wrote, in the article linked to:

"But for would-be self-publishers, there are a couple of lessons to take away from Mr. Bosah's experience. First, the importance of knowing something about publishing before deciding to become a publisher, even if your only client is yourself; and second, the incredible amount of time and energy self-publishers must expend in order to have even a hope of breaking even."

I hear this sentiment most often, not from critics of self-publishing, but from successful self-publishers. I think it's worth keeping in mind. It's the exact same advice that would be given to someone who was planning to start a small press, which is essentially what a self-publishing business is.

I don't think that being realistic about the difficulties in establishing oneself as a self-publisher is necessarily the same thing as slamming self-publishing. All businesses have their difficulties. To me, slamming comes when people say, "Nobody would ever self-publish unless they failed to sell to a publisher." That's like saying, "Nobody would ever sell to a small press unless they failed to sell to a major press." Different people choose different publishing methods for different reasons.