Why I don't self-publish now

I’m basically just a few clicks away from self-publication. Well… My novel still needs editing and proof-reading, but that could be done in a matter of days. I’ve got a selection of temporary covers: only one of them is any good and not too amateurish, I think, and I still need to work on it but it could do. I’ve got most of the necessary tools to format my novel. I’ve written a blurb to go on the back cover. I’ve even set up an account on CreateSpace, since it is probably the route I’ll choose to self-publish, even if I have to compare it with other options. 
 

I went to the Salon du Livre in Paris two weeks ago and, by chance, was just in time for the talk about Kindle Direct publishing, where three (successful) authors explained how it had changed their lives and allowed them to make a living out of their writing… I do know they are an exception, and that for one successful self-published writer, hundreds (?) struggle, but as I left the Salon, I thought I would go with Amazon, or at least give it a try. So I only have to upload a PDF of my novel, a cover and… ta-dah! My novel is on the market and on the way to become a bestseller (in my dreams).
 

But I won’t do that, even if at times my fingers are itching for those fateful clicks. There are several reasons for my decision.
 

• I want to publish the best version of my novel I can, even if it means spending weeks, and even months editing and correcting and re-editing my manuscript. 

• For the same reason, I want to have a beautiful cover that will make people want to actually buy my book. The fact that I’ve decided to make it from scratch (it would be way beyond my means to have a professional design it) renders it all the more difficult and stressful. When I first took this decision I naively thought it didn’t matter if I didn’t have any experience in book cover design and didn’t know how to use image editing software, that the Internet would teach me… Mmh… Let’s say the learning curve is steeper than I originally thought it would be.

• I’ve got to get more feedback from more readers and edit (*sigh* again…) accordingly. 

• I want to prepare the publication of As Winter Came and Went in order to maximize my chances of success. My definition of success is that my novel should be read by other people than just my family and friends. I don’t expect it to be a bestseller but I still want to make some sales. Writing historical novels is a hobby for me and my career plan is not to become a novelist (it is to become a historian and… write history books) but I still made quite an investment, especially in terms of time, in this hobby: this year I decided not to look for a student job (which was the initial plan when I started my master’s degree) and work on my novel instead. So I don’t want to think I’ve wasted this investment. 

• I still have to work on the marketing and distribution and all those things which though they do not involve writing my novel are part and parcel of being a (would-be) writer. I discovered that only recently. And it is one of the reasons why I decided to set up this blog.