I'm agreeing with Terie. She summed it up well. While this might be changing, traditionally it will actually be more difficult to get a self-published book picked up by a commercial publisher than it is to just go through the query-go-round and do it the old-fashioned way.
I think you're assuming most self publishers want to be "picked up" by a corporate publisher. And I think you're wrong. Oh, some do, sure; but at least the better informed self publishers, the ones bothering to learn the industry, are already pretty clear that in many cases they're already making more money on their books than a corp is going to give them.
Even with the well-touted Amanda Hocking $2m advance, she publicly said she expects to *lose* money on the deal vs what she'd make on her own. She's doing it to get their advertising dollars to help her other books, and the 3-4 additional self published books she plans to write each year on top of the one she writes for SMP. No, not everyone is a Ms. Hocking, obviously; but the way the math breaks out, it's almost *impossible* for a self publisher who is selling well enough to "get picked up" to make more money on a corporate contract (outside of extra benefits, like the aforementioned marketing helping your self published books sell more). It's very unlikely to happen.
That's because there is a stigma attached to self-published books,
People keep saying that. But outside of the industry, it's simply not the case. Most readers *don't care*. Only writers, agents, publishers, and a few reviewers really give a flying fewmet who published a book. Oh, and the NYT, but we've all seen the huge problems that is causing them in terms of damage to their bestseller list credibility.
many of them are at a disadvantage because they lack professional covers, editing, and marketing,
Yes, and people don't buy those, and those books sink and vanish into the mass of other cruddy books. If you make a bad book, it won't sell. Doesn't matter if you are trying to sell it to an agent, or Joe Reader. Bad books don't sell. If you have a good book, it probably will sell. Either route.
and because if a book has already been published and had very low sales, then a publisher is going to see that as evidence that there isn't an audience for the book.
That would be true if publishers had any possible way to track ebook sales. But since they don't, it's pretty much false.
If you managed to sell ten thousand copies on your own, you might have a chance, but selling that many is very difficult.
I'm curious where the number came from. Most writers who've gotten contracts after self publishing sold a lot less than that. Of course, there are hundreds of people self publishing who got that many sales just in 2011 so far... Hundreds, out of tens of thousands of books that went up, yeah. Don't want to play the odds game - but really, isn't writing *always* a longshot gamble? Querying agents and then maybe getting one and then maybe getting a sale and then maybe getting good promotion and then possibly getting a contract for the next book, and the next, and building a career is a longshot, too.
There are a lot more professional writers than there are professional astronauts. But the ratio of pro writers :: people seriously trying is probably pretty similar to the ratio of pro astronauts :: people seriously trying. If you want an easy field, go study medicine, or get a law degree, or take up conceptual astrophysics. Don't be a writer.
The hard truth is that if you're receiving a lot of rejections, it's probably for a reason. It's just a matter of figuring out what the reason is. Have you had your query letter critiqued in SYW? A bad letter can hurt because it means that they're not even going to bother with reading attached pages. If your query letter is awesome, is there a problem in your opening five? How about the opening three chapters?
Truth there. If you're not being accepted based on the quality of your writing, then perhaps it's better you spend more time working on, well, writing. Before trying to publish. A lot of people won't, and will fail. Many will quit. Lots of people send unfinished ms. to agents, fail, and quit. Not a lot of difference.
It is worth noting here that you talk about *query letter* quality, which is pretty silly if you think for a minute. Do you grade your electrician on his ability to do your plumbing? Do you quiz your doctor on her ability to fix your car? Why would you rate a fiction writer on the ability to write a completely different sort of material as the *primary* thing you want to see? Smart agents would basically ignore the query letter, and read the first doggone chapter. The fiction - the storytelling - is what matters, not the ability to write a catchy letter. If you're being rejected on the basis of your fiction, think twice about why before self publishing. If you're being rejected on the basis of your query? Well, readers won't be reading that anyway, will they?
In which case, you might hurt yourself because a book can be edited and sent out to agents again in a year, but if you've self-published it and failed to sell, it'll be much harder to get a publisher for it.
My considered opinion on this is that you're much better off writing a new book in that year. Or two or three, if you're up to that level of effort. If you've self published a book, let it be. If it's good, it'll make you some nice money. If not, it won't. Write another book and send that one to agents, if you still want to.
If you want to be commercially published
That's the real crux, I think.
The main reason for going with a corporate publisher is no longer financial. From my observations, good books, produced well, will tend to earn well either way.
The main reason for going with a corporate publisher is, in most cases, because you want to be corporate published. If that's your goal, your life-dream sort of thing, then definitely go for it. And the advice given in the post I quoted is quite good then - keep at it, stay dedicated, write more (hopefully better) books, keep trying. But keep in mind that it is a decision. Self publishers are not settling for second best by not signing with a corporate publisher. They're doing the *other* best.