Many who contemplate creating content dream of 'making it big' with their 'wonderful' work. Thing is; more than likely your work good or not, will not 'make it big' the first time up. Unless you're lucky and tap into some 'vein' the mainstream suddenly latches onto, odds are excellent your work will fail, make a small impression or achieve moderate success.

Unfortunately, that's the reality of content creation. Now, the big question you should ask before you jump in and toss your hard work to the 'Philistines' is, 'do I go traditional or self-publish?

This is a an insanely important question as it will determine the reach and depth of exposure your work may receive. Either method is fraught with pitfalls. With traditional publishing, you have craploads of hurdles to jump over whether your work is 'da' bomb' or 'da' flop'. Just getting the work before the eyes of a literary agent and a publisher is a no mean thing which all too often ends in 'No'.

Going with Self-Publishing it's 100% certain you'll be 'published', but that's the only guarantee you'll get. The responsibility of marketing, promoting and selling your work falls completely on your shoulders! Because of this, many a completed work goes unnoticed and unsold.

The next question you should ask is; 'If I self-publish, can I make money?' The answer to that question is, 'Yes and No'. That may seem a cop-out, but that's the reality. There are thousands of reasons why your work could be well received or completely ignored. Some factors you can affect, others are completely out of your control. It will all come down to how hard you work to get your product out there and how you best parlay minor successes into continued success.

Here's a discussion on the topic. Make sure you listen to the associated podcast as well....

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/07/25/334484331/unknown-authors-make-a-living-self-publishing