For many authors these days it seems the best solution to the endless stream of rejection letters from big publishing houses is to take matters into your own hands and self-publish. With the endless possibilities that the internet provides it is easier now to self-publish a book than it ever was before. Self-publishing is not always what you might think it is, yes it gets your work out to the masses but there is a good chance that it will not be the money maker that some authors hope it will be.
While self-publishing is a good way to get your work out there, it may not be as simple or fool proof as you might think. The first thing that you need to do is find a site or self-publisher that is trustworthy, has some sort of reliability, and that other people have used so that you can find reviews to gauge the trustworthiness of the publishing house. Depending on whether you prefer to publish ebooks or hard copy books, publishing houses will differ greatly. With online publishers you generally only have to pay a portion of whatever you make on your book while with hard copy, or what some people call vanity publishers, you have to pay an upfront fee for printing.
If you are simply interested in getting your work out to the masses, I highly suggest online publishing. With sites like Smashwords.com you can create your own ebook, cover, illustrations, or any other media that you want to add to your book. After you create your online version of your book it can be purchased through popular ereader sites and other online venues. If you choose to go the hard copy route you can be sure that you will have to shell out a decent amount of money to print. Personally, online publication is the mode of self-publishing I prefer as there is a lesser chance of major money loss.
I have worked with smashwords.com before and the submission process is incredibly simple. You create an account, you may be vary however if you do not wish to provide your financial information, and you are given an easy how to on how to submit your work to the publishing platform. The submission process does take a bit of time as there are hundreds of other writers eager to publish their work, because the site is free, it is often heavily trafficked which is good for publicity but a bit obnoxious when it comes to submission time. After you submit your work to be turned into an online work, your book or short story is sent to editors that help you format, change, and improve your book to best suit the online format. After your book is approved and published in an online version your work can be downloaded on the smashwords site or in other ereader stores depending on what formats you chose to publish your book in. The entire process can take any where from a few hours to a day or so depending on how many people are ahead of you in the queue and how long it takes an editor to sort out any problems that may occur with your book. This is by far the best online publisher that I have found as it is free but still offers tons of great resources to make your work the best that it can be.
As an individual that hopes to someday make my living with writing, it is hard for me to justify spending seven or eight hundred dollars for a thousand copies of a book that I may not have room for, may not be able to find a buyer for, and that I may not be able to find a distributer for. With online publishing you get much quicker results and are able to reach a wider range of people. The first step to self-publishing is really to learn the industry as well as possible. This means go to as many self-publishing sites as you can, request information, find out about the prices if there are any, and figure out how many people will be able to see your work. Once you decide what site to use you should be able to check the frequently asked questions section to answer any technical questions you may have. As with many self-propelled ventures, your biggest job is going to be figuring out how to market your work so that you can get the most out of self-publishing.