: Re: Does self publishing via Amazon or similar services make your book ineligible for later acceptance by a publisher? I have a non-fiction book that is ready for publishing, and I am weighing between

@Samaraweera193

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My wife and I own two small publishing companies in the UK, and have been in the business for about 18 years.

The brief answer to your question is that doing your self-pub thing doesn't hurt at all. As mentioned above, self-pub success lets the publisher know the book may be worthwhile. In fact, many of the bigger publishers keep an eye on the ebook markets so they can pick up successful books. The book trade isn't in good shape nowadays, and too many books don't perform well, so publishers aren't that keen on new, untested writers - prior success helps eliminate that uncertainty.

A further point - because of the state of the book trade, it's harder than ever to break into it. Most first time authors have no choice but to self-publish. As small publishers, we've found it worthwhile to provide self-pub services ourselves to writers, there's no reason nowadays to let your manuscript languish, as was the case in the old days.

Nevertheless, if you don't try to get a publisher first of all, then you might be missing out on a deal. Try, but don't be heartbroken by rejection letters, and look into self-pub anyway - it isn't vanity publishing - that is when a so-called publisher deceives someone in order to take a lot of money off them while misleading them as to their chances of success.

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