: Re: Does self-publishing one's eBook online hurt a writer's chances of later selling the same book to a traditional publisher? Prior to asking this question, I have found and read similar questions

@Holmes449

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Since this question has received no real (non-nonsensical) answers, I will post an answer based on my own investigations and what other experienced authors and publishers have said about it in other websites by making a few quotations that deal with this question.

[One can still sell it to a traditional publisher], but if you [do]
sell it to a traditional publisher, you will be expected to pull it
the second the contract is signed, and they will probably make you go
through several rounds of editorial revisions just to make it
different from the version that’s still out in the wild.

If you have a winning manuscript, anything can happen. However, here
are the hazards. If there is a free preview and it looks
unprofessional with typos and formatting problems, that will count
against you. If the book has bad or lukewarm reviews, that will count
against you. If the book clearly sold poorly, that will count against
you. [Note that the word 'clearly' is crucial here. Because it's not necessarily clear what it is meant by a book "selling poorly" because that would depend on the circumstances of its publishing. Normally, that phrase implies that the book has actually been seen and received by customers and rejected by them (as opposed to a book that has not yet reached the eyes of customers at all or barely so).]

[Self publishing] doesn't mean that your books cannot be picked up by
a traditional publisher. However, in my experience, having at one time
had nine books published on Kindle Direct Publishing and listed with
Amazon, this route will preclude most...reputable Literary Reps from
reading your books.

Note: The original question is premised on the fact that the agent and publisher have already read the book and would like to sign a deal with the author. Thus, it is about whether there will be an issue if they learn that the book was previously self-published although later removed.

Regarding the issue of copyright:

[Technically, one can still have it traditionally published, because] you
still hold the copyright on your book. You own that text unless and
until you sign away that copyright, which Amazon will not demand and
no credible publisher will demand (If anyone does demand your
copyright, that is a warning sign and you should get away from them).

What Amazon and other publishers buy from you are typically limited
publishing rights (the right to print and sell your book) that do not
infringe on your possession of your intellectual property. Though if
you do get conventionally published, they might require you to stop
selling via your other channels so that people are more likely to buy
the copies that they paid to print and put into bookstores.

Based on these and many other comments I have read, one can conclude that there is no real technical issue (regarding copyrights) that affect the possibility of later publication by a traditional publisher. The only issue would simply be that the privilege of 'first publication' that publishing companies tend to prefer and value would be gone in principle. But, as I said in my original post, from a logical perspective, it is not really an issue if the book has reached none or only a few people. This of course raises an interesting paradox: If a self-published book (like any one of Amanda Hocking's for example) has already reached huge numbers of people due to her marketing abilities as well as, of course, the quality of her books, then who do the traditional publishers imagine they are going to sell it to when everyone has already bought it? Obviously, it's because they know that there are still millions (if not billions) of potential customers out there in the world that can still buy the book and haven't been exposed to it yet.

The rest is really just common sense. As one of those quotes say, a lot depends on the circumstances regarding the book itself: When exactly was it self-published? How long has it been? Did it sell? Was there any marketing involved? What are the reviews of the book like? What do customers who have already bought the self-published version think about it? And so on.

Regarding another of the quotes, I suspect that the reason why literary agents would typically not want to bother reading a book that they are told has already been self-published just comes down to pragmatism and time-saving. Since they deal with so many submissions everyday, they tend to not want to deal with any unnecessary hassle or issues that an already published book might bring (especially in terms of the first publication rights issue). Naturally, they would prefer to approach publishers with books that will not potentially bring any issues. Also, as is typical with human beings, they naturally do not like the idea that they are being used as 'second options' by hybrid authors who are maximizing their chances by trying out both approaches at the same time. It's just human nature. That's why it's best either to not tell them or to submit straight to publishers. Alternatively, if the book has already found success in the self-publishing platform, the author might use that fact as an advantage by mentioning it in the query letters sent to agents.

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