Multiple Channels and Piercing Questions

It's the home stretch! We've reached the end of this little series of posts about the different types of self-publishing out there. Let's discuss Multiple Channels and then I'll walk you through some things to consider when self publishing.

Multiple channels is just what it sounds like. You use one company to prep your manuscript, and they distribute it to several venues all at once. So instead of formatting it JUST for Kindle, or JUST for the Nook, you can do it for as many venues as is available through the company. It still has all the trademarks of publishing single channel but the added bonus of going lots of places all at once. There are a few out there, but two of the biggies are:

Smashwords
FastPencil (this has a small fee)

FastPencil has more in common with the POD publishers, but still has the option for doing it on the cheap.

So what questions should you be asking when deciding what avenue to take to get your work published?

1. What are my goals here? Does my work need a print edition?
2. How much help am I going to need to get the job done? Do I need to consider independent editing? Do I know how to format my manuscript?
3. Will my audience prefer digital or print?
4. Once I have a product ready, how am I going to get the word out there? (None of the 4 options I've covered the past month do any publicity for you.)

I hope this will help you get on the right path for you and your writing. Not everything we write has a place in traditional publishing. Having these options available can only be a good thing in the long run for the individual author and the publishing industry as a whole.