publishing your novel/story

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I'm still in two minds over whether traditional publishing is still better or self-publishing. Has anyone done one

and wishes they had done the other. It's all changing so quickly that I feel like I'm going to have to do my research

all over again when my novel is finally at the send to agent stage.

I've never managed to actually finish anything, despite writing hundreds of pages of various novels, so I've only ever considered your question from the hypothetical point of view, but I have considered it. My starting point would be... what do you want to accomplish? Do you want to give up a day job and go on to greater things (proper publisher) or do you just want to get your story out there and have people read and appreciate... but still with a chance of fame and fortune (self-publish). I realise this is a simplistic approach, but I think it may help to consider this first.
I quite like the idea of self-publishing, but I think it would also involve a lot of engaging with the public on social media, which really puts me off. I suppose a publishing deal would also involve a lot of engagement... maybe I could hire an actor to do that for me... heh! heh!

I've had an anthology of short stories called Creeping Shadows self published through Amazon, as well as a couple short stories in the Anthologies A Roll Of The Dice, and A Roll Of The Dice II. This route is certainly easier and makes seeing your work in print a certainty. But it's also true that there's a good chance that you may not see much, if any, money. But the rights to the work you produce will always remain with you.
I am hoping to go through traditional publishing in the future. That said, it's much less likely to get your work in print, as few publishers look at unsolicited work, only going through an agent. And trying to find an agent is itself difficult enough. While writers are artists, traditional publishing is a business, which means they only work with subjects that have an audience they can make money off of (such as teenybopper vampires that sparkle in the sunlight). But if you can work your way into getting published this way, there is certainly more money in it, but you lose rights to your work after it's published.
Whatever you do, stay clear of vanity press publishing. They will say they are self publishing, but that's a lie. They are more interested in getting you to pay upfront for all the work of publishing (think thousands of dollars), then might even cheat you out of your share of the profits. And the rights to your work is no longer yours.

You need to write your teenybopper vampires that sparkle in sunlight idea

Mine's the first in a series of murder mysteries set in England in the 1920s which I feel is a solid section within trad

publishing, I just keep having this horrible vision of them insisting on the cover being something like this.



And while my work isn't dark dark it's not cosy, and has an even male/female readership.