I have come to the conclusion that there are two main philosophies of “self-publishing”.

All broad characterizations are perforce oversimplifications, and this one will be more so than most, so be advised that many–probably most–of self-published authors won’t fit exactly into either category.

However.

Granting the inexactitude of what I am about to say, I believe that there are two basically incompatible ways to define the relationship between self-published authors and traditional publishing.

The first group defines “self-publishing” as “an author acting as her or his own publisher”.  That is to say that authors are emulating the model of traditional publishers.  These authors tend, to be honest, among the most successful financially. They tend to write in clearly defined genres, with traditionally designed covers, and often judge their work against the standard produced by traditional publishers.

Self-publishing, for these authors, is generally a choice made on the basis of time…