How I Self-Published and why

Someone asked me to talk about what I did in regards to the title. I chose to self-publish because I don’t want to spend hours working on query letters, reworking my manuscript over and over just to be told ‘No’. Instead, I chose to self-publish for myself, family and friends.
When it came to deciding if I wanted a paperback copy of my novel I chose LULU. A friend from university recommended it to me. I had to do all the formatting and cover design. This takes time. They do tell you suggestions, trust me, for those considering it, take it. This site also puts the novels up on Amazon.com and Amazon in the UK. Handy. Not many people will actually buy them or I just fail at properly marketing them.
These books were more for me to order in bulk and have family and friends buy them from me. It’s really nice to see my work in an actual novel.
Obviously with how the world is advancing today I chose to use a site for ereaders. I know a lot of people chose to use KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), but that contract is just terrible. You can only publish through there for 3 months. Not my thing. I am from Canada and our main ereader company is Kobo. I decided to go with Smashwords. They have a larger range and so far I have done quite well. Not well enough to quite my day job, but enough to make myself feel like a real author.
I do still dream of being professionally published someday, but this way I feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, some people will review it and be rude about the work because it is not “professionally done”. To me I just brush that off. Compliments are nice, but there are bad reviews too. Do not take it to heart. Not everyone likes all the popular novels.
If you chose self-publishing most would suggest that you have to spend more time marketing than anything else. Not my thing. I do join some free promotional periods so readers can read my book for free through Smashwords.
I hope this helped convince people about self-publishing. Another site to consider for paper copies of your novels is Createspace, which is through Amazon as well.
Read up on contracts, copyrights, distribution and fees. Research a lot and find what best suits you. Because of my want to self publish I put 3 novels up on both sites and will put up more as I type them up and write them. Do it more for yourself and those close to you. Be proud of your work. Well, back to writing I go!