As previously discussed, and as some of you know personally, working with a publisher has huge advantages over self-publishing. However, it's not necessarily easy to get published. One of the reasons self-publishing has taken off as an industry is the ease for anyone to produce their idea on a limited budget. As many find out though, the challenges arrive when it comes time to getting the book out there.
Forbes wrote an interesting article about how one author dealt with this. Going the self published route initially, she found out how big of a platform she could get out of her idea. This 'evidence' led her to huge results. Check out the article here.
Some people spend years trying to get published while they become frustrated with the industry and their ideas burn out in the process. Others go the self pub route and quickly discover the challenges of moving inventory. Elle Newmark, the author in the article, takes both sides on to make an impact and elevate her to a higher author status.