[bambax]

Yeah I self-published a novel last year, in French. It has been mostly a positive experience. The book did relatively well, was selected as one of the five finalists of the Amazon Storyteller contest (out of 1200+ contestants) and is still selling a little.

Before that, it had been refused by all the publishing houses I sent it to (10 of them); and the experience was rather unpleasant. There are no agents in France (the market is too small); authors send their works to publishers, on paper (nobody accepts electronic versions), and then wait between 1 to 4 months for a response. Negative answers are just a polite "no" with never any justification, or ideas for improvements, etc. (Positive answers, I don't know.)

For my next book I don't think I will even attempt trade publishing; why print so many copies, send them via post, and wait three months. I'd rather spend the time and money on getting early reviews.

I understand the appeal of traditional publishing when the full power of an established house pushes a book everywhere and gets lots of press; but if you don't get the full treatment there is little point nowadays.