1 - I couldn't imagine doing anything but self-publishing in today's market.  I don't see any advantage.  You can frequently swap for services needed so the cost of editing and book covers is minimal, and most publishers don't actively market or promote your books anyway while taking massive cuts of your books.

2 - I've known quite a few successful self-published authors and isn't it enough that 14 of the top 100 best selling books of 2012 on Amazon were self-published?  And that number has been growing every year.

3 - I've heard people that regretted going with a traditional publisher.  They get a two year contract, the brick and mortar stores send the books back after less than a month (not enough time to build a name), and it takes much longer than two years, generally, to build a readership.

4 - Personally, I couldn't imagine going for an agent.  I don't handle rejection well.  I was depressed for a month when I got turned down for grad school the first time round.  With self-publishing, the rejection issue isn't as much of a problem.  You may get bad reviews, or good reviews, or suffer in obscurity.  But everything is fluid.  You can learn from your mistakes, get better.  You don't have to be perfect from the starter pistol and there are no rejection letters.  Did I mention there's no rejection letters?

Sorry, I'm a little biased...

Thanks for your reply, Zetta. I like a lot of what you are saying, and I would love to hear more about two things you brought up:

1. "Indie houses are far from traditional in their operations."

2. "Self publishing has different challenges and benefits than publishing with a publishing house regardless of size."

i would love to use your answers (and credit you appropriate, of course) in some blog posts. 

Thanks - and thanks for the good wishes.

AC

Congratulations, Alle! Hope it all gets confirmed soon. :)

My question is when you say "traditional publishing," what exactly do you mean? I define "traditional publishing" as getting an agent who shops your ms. to major publishing houses for print publication, and possibly ebook with typically "traditional" contract terms w/re: royalties, advance, length of contract, returns, etc. that, in my opinion, put the author at a disadvantage.

But the process is quite different if you deal with smaller, indie pub houses--and I don't mean "small" as being an offshoot of a major NYC conglomerate. For the most part, indie houses are far from traditional in their operations.

Self publishing has different challenges and benefits than publishing with a publishing house regardless of size, but not all publishing houses operate in the same way and cannot be considered a "traditional" publisher...if that makes sense! :)