So what did that leave? Self-Publishing.

Goal of this section: Explain the hurdles we identified with self-publishing on Amazon or other platforms.

Yes, that's it! Who needs a publisher, with that jungle-river online bookseller we can just do it all ourselves!

Oh… but wait. We can't advertise it if we have certain imagery on the cover? We have to sign exclusivity rights if we want to keep 40% of the book sale revenue on the audiobook? That seems like a low margin for the person who did all the work… And if we don't sign exclusivity rights, we just keep 25%??

Oh, and we'll be competing against hundreds of thousands of other people in an open market for a few coveted slots of prime digital real estate, and if I don't have a story that fits conveniently into one of the neat genre categories then no one will ever even see it?

So, you're telling me, that I have to self promote, conform to a box that will “sell best”, and still give away 75% of my sale proceeds?

Once again... the ROI did not look good...

What other options do I have?