Kindle Alone or With ePublisher?

Well, a good will handle those things for you. Your book will be professionally edited and in more formats than just Kindle. Why limit yourself to a single format? Your book should be for sale at multiple locations, not just Amazon. A good publisher will submit your book to review sites. They will take out ads and promote your book. Mine has arranged chat days at various romance sites, guest blog opportunities, put together a great gift basket for someone to win as part of the book launch, etc...

That's for a good epublisher. With a bad one, meh, might as well have done it yourself. Investigate publishers thoroughly before submitting.

Just for the record, if you're the motivated sort, all the stuff Soccer-Mom just listed is easily done yourself as well. A publisher may do all that for you so you don't have to worry about it, but then they'll also be taking a nice cut of your profit.

Well, the question isn't only can you do it, but can you do it well--and should you. Personally, I need an editor and I would guess most writers do as well. I have a day job, a farm, and a family. It sounds glib to simply say "motivated". Promoting a book is a heck of a lot of work. I prefer to work with a publisher. I'm gaining their expertise as well as an established brand. With my publisher, came their built in fan base, people willing to buy simply because my publisher's name assured them of a level of quality.

zpeteman said:

Just for the record, if you're the motivated sort, all the stuff Soccer-Mom just listed is easily done yourself as well. A publisher may do all that for you so you don't have to worry about it, but then they'll also be taking a nice cut of your profit.

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I wouldn't call all that stuff 'easy'. It might be easy for you, but you have skills I don't have. (It also has nothing to do with motivation. I'm highly motivated to do all kinds of things I don't have the skills to do.) That stuff is really hard for me. I'm perfectly willing to 'share my profits' with a publisher who does those things. Just like I'm perfectly willing to pay a qualified mechanic to work on my car, or a qualified painter to paint my house, or a qualified dentist to perform my dental work, or...

See my point? Everyone is different, and what's easy for one isn't easy for another. A mechanic wouldn't run around telling everyone that it's easy to work on their cars, just because it's easy for her to do so.

These are the questions one needs to examine when deciding whether to self-publish: do I have all the skills and resources (not to mention time) to do all these various tasks? Because if I don't have what's required and try to self-publish, I'm not going to have much -- if any -- success. If someone does have what's required, self-publishing can be a terrific choice.

But what's right for one isn't right for all.

Like I said, it's just for the record so that the poster can make an informed decision.

I think understanding the magnitude of the task is part of making an informed decision. I have no idea of the OP's skill set.

I would not suggest being the FINAL editor for your own work. NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU THINK YOU ARE. Big mistake.

My e-publisher is doing multi-streams of editing in preparation of the release of my novel...which does not release until July of 2011. I've edited my novel a good 10 or more times. But MY eyes are not SOMEBODY ELSE. I think it's a big mistake to do the FINAL edit your own book. To me, that's a sure-fire way to fail.

Soccer Mom said:

I think understanding the magnitude of the task is part of making an informed decision. I have no idea of the OP's skill set.

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Doesn't really matter what their skill-set is. The best editor in the world will do an imperfect job while FINAL editing their own work. They will miss things. They won't see any fallible content where it exists.

KTC said:

Doesn't really matter what their skill-set is. The best editor in the world will do an imperfect job while FINAL editing their own work. They will miss things. They won't see any fallible content where it exists.

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I agree completely with this. Having a professional editor is so much more than someone who cleans up the punctuation and typos. I'd never, ever fly without one.

When I was talking about skill sets, I meant as far as marketing and promotion (which are not the same thing, btw).

Anyway, best wishes to the OP. Self-publishing isn't my choice, but I do wish you well in your endeavor.