If you have both self-published and traditionally published works, which route did you find most profitable?  The most personally and professionally rewarding, and why?

Kat Martin

Traditional print books have been way more successful for me.  I like seeing my books on the rack and hope bookstores continue to stay in business.

Catherine Bybee

Oh, hard question for me. I did make a good amount of money on my first self-published title. And since I had, at the time, the unique experience of making the NYTs because of Wife by Wednesday, the entire experience was out of this world. My career launched at that point and my books, nearly all of my books, are profitable now. My agent and her team have had a lot of success getting my self-published work to the foreign market. I’ve had offers I’ve passed up because I didn’t like the terms. I love that I can set my own path and don’t HAVE to follow any one to be successful.

Laurin Wittig

Traditional publishing was not profitable at all, and though it was a thrill to know that I had made the leap to “professionally” publishing, ultimately it was a difficult and uncomfortable situation for me. I was paid poorly, though no better or worse than most authors I knew who were starting out at the same time. I had no control over any of the process except writing the book, and even that had to be done on the publisher’s timetable. And even though my second book sold quite well, my third book had very spotty distribution and no marketing behind it, and it did not even look like it was the sequel to my second book, which it was. In addition, I had three editors over three books and the last one didn’t care for my work. Indie publishing, by contrast, was a wonderful rush in every conceivable way. I made 3 ½ times more money on my backlist books in 2011 than I had made on them over the previous 10 years. I was able to brand my covers, experiment with pricing, put them on sale when I wanted to, change the covers when I wanted, etc. etc. etc. On the other hand, I didn’t get much new writing done because I was so busy trying to stay on top of the brave new world of indie publishing, but I loved it. Because those same three books that Berkley had originally published to no fanfare, short print runs, and ultimately lousy distribution, did so well under my own publishing efforts they drew the attention of Montlake Romance, who took two of those same backlist books and propelled my sales to even greater levels in 2012. Working with Montlake Romance has been yet another revelation. I had not thought to ever work with a publisher again, but decided after several conversations with them to take a risk and try out the start up. The model at Montlake is to treat authors as valued customers and to offer huge value to authors at the editorial level, the production level, and especially the marketing level while still paying the author a fair royalty. I still plan to indie publish a few things, but Montlake has offered a publishing model that is collaborative in all the ways I want it to be, while providing the support for those parts of publishing that took so much of my time as a purely indie author, allowing me to re-focus on writing new works. Today I’m very happily a hybrid author, but not with any of the traditional publishers. I’ve learned never to say never in this business, but at the moment, I cannot envision a scenario where I would place my work in a trad publisher’s hands again. The alternatives are too rewarding, both financially and in the control I have over my work.

Tanya Anne Crosby

I was lucky enough to find a great deal of success with the first leg of my traditional publishing career, but I would have to say that I find indie-publishing to be more rewarding. I absolutely love having more control over covers and really the entire process. It feels more personal, and I feel more in tune with what my readers want to see from me. That said, I also really love working with my editor at Kensington and hope to establish a long-standing relationship there. With a great editor, and a good publishing house, there are definitely rewards of another kind at a traditional house.

Donnell Ann Bell

So far, I have not self-published.  Someday I might, but at present I am under contract with Bell Bridge Books.  They’ve been an outstanding publisher and have helped me reach #1 overall paid with Amazon for DEADLY RECALL and #6 and #10 overall paid with THE PAST CAME HUNTING.