For those of us who have already self published a book or three, we had our reasons for doing so.

For those of you thinking of going this route, you may have the same reasons: you don't want to wait that long to hear back from a traditional publisher, you don't know where to begin, or if you're like me, you aren't happy with your current publisher.

There are several reasons why you may to go the self publishing route, and whatever your reason, it's worth it in the end.

Once you've decided self publishing is the right thing for you, you may wonder where to start.

Researching different outlets for self publishing is definitely something you should consider. There are several places you can use, like CreateSpace, Lulu, Kindle Direct, and PubIt (Barnes and Noble).

Essentially, you can use one or all of them, but in my experiences, I use Lulu because you have the option to publish eBooks as well as hard copies to Amazon and Barnes and Noble. EBooks can be published to iBooks, as well.

You set the prices and control what content goes where and all your sales can be monitored from one place.

Lulu also has several different services you can choose from that will help you with editing, cover design, interior layout, and marketing. Putting your title on the site is completely free and is free to publish.

They only take a small percent from each sake to cover their costs of printing and distributing.

If you want to order a copy for yourself you have the option of paying the printing cost, which is often times less than half of the cost of what you can usually sell for. (One of my titles lists for around ten dollars and I can buy a copy for about four dollars.)

This option is good if you decide to do a book signing or sell them your self. Keep in mind you won't be paid for these kinds of sales because you're getting the book at cost.

I know there are other self publishing companies out there, but Lulu is the one that has worked the best for me.

I also use Kindle Direct Publishing, iBooks, and PubIt with Barnes and Noble.

These are strictly eBook publishing services that allows you to directly upload your book and cover art and the book can be published usually within a few hours of being uploaded.

If you're like me, and you want to do everything yourself, then by all means, go ahead and do that! I do my own editing and cover design so if I'm not happy with something I can only blame myself for the problem.

Self publishing is pretty easy once you understand what you're doing, and pretty soon you can see all your hard work paying off when those sales start to pour in.

If you're an author and want to publish, I urge you to at least try self publishing to see if it will work for you.

If not, then seek out those traditional publishers. You'd be surprised at how many of them accept open submissions.

Tayler Wright is the author of The Outbreak and The Quarantine. Her new book, The Cure, is coming soon. You can visit her online at http://taylerewright.weebly.com

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Radu Balas

Radu is the Founder of Publishing Addict and author of "Sell More Books Using Your Author Website | The Easiest Way To Brand, Build, Market, and Manage Your Authorship" Soon available on Amazon.