In the Old World, pre Kindle, you, the writer, sought the attention of a Big Publisher who stuck your paperback in Billy’s Bookshop. You can still opt for this strategy in 2018 and it can be sensible. What might you expect? At best . . . an Oprah bestseller! Or you might sell a few or more than a few. What’s your worst outcome? No Big Publisher notices you . . . not one . . . you don’t end up with a book at all!
In the Old World, pre Kindle, if you were REJECTED (note the jilted lover language), you could (and still can) pay someone to print your PDF and Photoshop’d cover, stick the book in your garage, and hawk it to friends. This was the old “Vanity Publishing” approach, one rightly stigmatised.
In the New World, your strategy can be to Self Publish your ebook and pbook. This is NOT Vanity Publishing – you mimic the professional steps of the Big Publishers by paying for editing, for cover design, for this and that. Your ebook and pbook will NEVER end up in Billy’s Bookshop. What might you expect? At best . . . a bestseller! Or you might sell a few or more than a few. And your worst outcome? Because it’s not in Billy’s Bookshop, no one even notices its existence and all you end up doing is hawking a few to friends.
The worst outcome in the New World is no worse than it was (and can still be) in the Old World. At least your garage doesn’t smell of mouldy books!