Willing to answer questions of publishing - small press, big-six, and big-six.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by MichaelSullivan

It's hard not to project your own way of working to someone else in such a decision as this. I for one have an "internal" barometer and upon reading my own work I can pretty much judge whether it is "good" or "bad." For those that are struggling with such distinctions, I was suggesting that those who read a great deal in that particular genre can give you a barometric reading if you are not able to so on your own.

He he, that sort of brings us full circle doesn't it - back to what you were saying about "Of course everyone thinks that they have written something great". I have to believe such a statement is true (which may, of course, be me projecting my own standards and way of working) or how else do you explain the amount of ... stuff (there that's polite) that gets out there? But, in accepting that statement a new author* is left unable to trust their own judgment in the matter (and which point we go back to page one and read what we've both already said on the topic).

* An author with some experience and success has some justification for trusting their own judgment, a new author hasn't earned that yet.

[MichaelSullivan]

No question this is the hardest aspect in the whole self-publishing "nut". I guess one thing is "if in doubt" publish under a pen name and let the users decide. If you get all negative reviews - you know it wasn't good enough - so pull it and they will all disappear. Then you can rework and try again, or move on to a different project.