Self Publishing After Rejections? Good Idea?

I see this a lot with authors. They have their list of publishers they want to work with. In most cases, the list goes from the best of the best that would be a huge reach for anyone, to the lower hanging fruit. They start sending out queries to those "big guns" and sure enough, one rejection comes in after another. The move to the next tier of publishers and the same thing happens. They move to the low hanging fruit and again the same thing happens. Maybe they do get one bite but the offer is not the 6-figure deal they know their Alien Vampire Bunny story deserves, so they pass on that one. Clearly, no editor has a brain cell left and cannot see the writing of a pure genius.

So now, they move to a new line of argument. They'll self-publish it. Off they go now and establish their own publishing company, Hazel and Fiver Books, LLC. These authors have friends who have self-published and proclaim their great successes. Heck, even big name authors self-publish. This is sure to work.

Maybe it does, but most likely, it fails. Why?

I would argue that first of all, these authors did not look at the rejection letters they received from those editors (assuming the editors sent something - but that is another blog post). If, however, editors (and agents too) have told them the writing is flat, or the conflict is weak, or the trope is over-done, or that storyline is not selling right now, why on Earth does the writer now think they can do better?

What is worse, is if the writer has said the story is not good, why would an author want to put a product out there, with their name on it, showing readers they have no clue how to write the story. No, don't immediately start telling me your beta-readers loved it because the odds are, they are either family who will never say a bad word, your critique partners who love what you bring for libations to the critique sessions, or people who don't know how to write either. The point is, your name is now associated with writing that is not good.

I actually heard an author at a writing conference some years ago, during a key-note argue that at least bad publicity is still publicity. NOTE: Let me just tell you at the time of writing this, I did look to see if the author had published anything and the only thing published was the book she had referenced at that conference, and yes it was self-published. It was on sale on Amazon for $0.00. There's a success story for you.

The reality is, if people think your story is not good, then your story is not good. Would you serve an under-cooked or burnt turkey to your family at Thanksgiving? I think not. So why are you treating readers with that same level of respect.

If your story is not good, either fix it, or learn to write a good story.