he second point is the opportunity cost of being your own publisher: almost all successful authors have to do things that aren’t writing in order to sell their books (all the hustling, touring, etc that comprises the writerly life in the early 21st century), but if you’re your own publisher, there is an order of magnitude more non-writing stuff that becomes your job. Going the traditional route makes sense for writers who can earn more by writing another book than they can by spending that writing time being a publisher; it also makes sense for writers who just aren’t any good at that stuff. Now, this second point does not militate against self-publishing per se – rather, it suggests a new kind of service-bureau/publisher that provides services to authors that sit somewhere between self-publishing and traditional publishing. Companies like Lulu, Bookbaby and Smashwords already do this, and many of the big literary agents are starting to do this for their authors, especially with their backlists.