If you hang out in publishing circles, you’re bound to hear about the stigma of self-publishing. You may hear that the stigma is gone. You may hear that the stigma is still strong. The rationale goes something like this: Authors self-publish because they aren’t good enough to find a “real” publisher. (Of course, pick two people and ask them to define a “real” publisher, and see how close their definitions are… but that’s another blog post).

The reality is, sure, some self-published books aren’t “good enough” to get picked up by a traditional, commercial publisher. But other books are self-published for totally different reasons. Here are six good reasons an author might self-publish.

• Creative Control

Some authors want to be able to make all the decisions for their book — from title to release date to cover design to editorial changes. You may have heard a cynical Golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. When it comes to commercial publishing, the reality is that the publisher has the gold and makes the rules. That’s okay — they’re running a business. But if an author decides to run their own business in order to keep themselves in the driver’s seat, that should be okay too.

• Niche Market

It turns out that commercial publishers need to sell a certain quantity of books in order to be profitable. They can’t afford to publish books written to small niches. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a business case to be made for someone to publish to those niches, though! An author who doesn’t have the ongoing overhead of a large publisher can make money and be successful by publishing to a niche market. Why miss that opportunity?

• Financial Opportunity

Some authors self-publish as a business decision. I’ve often heard 15% of net sales bandied about as the royalty that a Christian author can expect. An author might look at the numbers and decide that they want to keep a higher percentage of their sales. If they can sell their book, that’s a good decision!

• Group/Event related

Consider the typical commercial publishing timeline: 18 – 24 months from the time the contract is signed until the book hits the market. If an author’s book targets a specific event, they may not have 18-24 months to wait. In those cases, the quicker timelines possible in self-publishing will make a great opportunity actually come to pass.

• Well-developed Platform

This one is only beginning to take place. It may become a tidal wave. Seth Godin is the perfect example: he has a tremendous platform. They know where to find him and he knows where to find them. He doesn’t need the support of a publisher. In fact, he can do better on his own. He realized it, and he’s doing it.

So there you have it… 5 legit reasons to self-publish. Do you see some holes? Any problems? We’re always trying to refine our thinking — we’d love to hear yours!