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@rae

Your dedication and your desire to dive right in remind me of myself at your age. I didn’t successfully publish until I was 15 (which was still too early), but I knew what I wanted to do and I did it. And I get the impression you could readily do the same thing.

But since I have been there, I have some words of caution. Well, the first is actually more of an encouragement. You don’t have to rush. I don’t know if this feels to you like rushing–sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t–but if you’re diving in because you feel like you have to publish as soon as possible, or you won’t be a “real” teen writer unless you publish while you’re still a teenager (that was me), or you feel like you have to publish this exact story right away… Take a breath. There’s no rush. Your publishing efforts will not be any less worthwhile, any less impressive, or any less valuable to readers if you take things slow. In fact, you’re going to be able to put more effort, more value, and more care into your book and the publication process if you take your time, which will enable you to share your book with readers more effectively and also to be more proud of what you’ve put out. There’s nothing wrong with taking your time. Especially in a busy season.

Maybe you’ve gotten a bit of my caution by reading that point, as well. A rushed book is not going to be as high quality as a book that you’ve dedicated more time and (to a degree) money into. With more time, you can do more editing, research different publishing options, if you do still want to go indie you can take your time learning to format, you can save up so you have the budget for quality edits and cover design, you can learn how to make an effective cover if you decide to do it on your own instead, etc. All of these skills and resources take time to build up, and you will grow a ton as a writer and as a professional as you go through the process of learning those skills, doing that research, working with editors and cover designers, etc.

You’re also likely to burn out if you try to publish while you’re already crazy busy. Don’t put more on your plate than you can handle. Trust me, I’ve been there time and time again. Now, this doesn’t mean that you can’t make a paced-out publishing plan that you can work toward in smaller increments. If you want to set bite-size goals toward publishing, go for it! But know that it will take a while–and that’s okay.

To answer your actual question: I am an indie author, and I definitely prefer that route for myself–though I would like to also traditionally publish at least one book in the future for the experience. There are several aspects of indie publishing that I appreciate. One is, as you mentioned, full creative control. Second, to remain in keeping with the theme of this comment, indie publishing allows you to work as quickly or as slowly as you need; you don’t have to wait on an agent and a publisher to pick up your book before you can get started publishing it, but you also don’t have to write or publish on an imposed deadline. Third, I love having the opportunity to build my own publishing and marketing team with each book! I get to build relationships with a variety of editors, formatters, artists, virtual assistants, etc.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with going the traditional route if it better suits your writing process or goals–and I actually want to have a guest on my blog to discuss the fear of traditional publishing in some circles, because I know the common concerns (less creative control, non-exclusive rights, etc.) have some basis but are blown out of proportion. For example, you can sometimes get more honest feedback on the quality of your work by pitching to agents than you would just by working with beta-readers and editors and the like.

I wrote a blog post that laid out the general process and pros and cons to each publishing route, if you’d like to take a look at that as a reference (and the following posts in the series are about the indie publishing process).

You have a great, exciting journey ahead of you, and I can tell you have the guts to build an awesome writing career! Direct that will wisely and you will do amazing things.