The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing

Pros of Self-Publishing:

Faster Exposure: You can get your book published faster than through traditional methods. Traditional methods can take years before a book sees Amazon or a traditional bookshop. I can write a few books per year. So I chose self-publishing because of this. If you are a writer who plans to publish every couple of years, traditional publishing can work for you.
Greater Creative Control: You have complete control over the content and appearance of your book. In exchange for money, you lose some autonomy over your content with a publisher. Only you can decide if this is something you can live with. I don’t have too much opinion on this one, because every reader makes the story in their mind, and it’s different for each person.
Better Royalties: You can receive higher royalties when self-publishing than traditional publishing. Who doesn’t want to make more money?
Longer “Shelf Life”: Your book can remain on virtual shelves indefinitely, giving you more time to build up a following. Some people love the feel of a book in their hand, and many love the idea of e-books. More publishing companies are starting to realize that e-books make up a considerable part of book sales due to readers such as Kobo and Kindle. The gap between paperback, hardback, and e-reader will decrease with time.

Cons of Self-Publishing:

Less Editorial Support: You cannot access an editorial team when you self-publish. You are the team when you are self-published until you hire a team. There is less support during the process of publishing a book. You must be able to push yourself along, be okay with making mistakes, and bounce back quickly.
Less Marketing Support: You must take the reigns for marketing and distributing your book. Marketing falls on you. However, lately, it’s been a trend for publishing companies to look at an author’s following as part of the acceptance criteria. If I had to do it anyway, why not keep all my money?
Less Acclaim: Self-publishing still carries a stigma in some circles, and you may not reach as broad an audience. The stigma around self-published books is decreasing as more and more of them become mainstream media. However, now and then, I run into someone who thinks like this.