ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Self Publish, Be Happy

Okay kiddo, let me explain what "self-publish, be happy" means.

Do you know what it means to be an author? It means you write books for people to read. Now, sometimes people who want to write a book ask a big company called a publishing house to help them. That company makes the book look nice and decides where it will be sold.

But sometimes people don't want to ask the big company for help. Maybe they want to do it their way or have more control. So they can self-publish, which means they do it themselves. They write the book, design the cover, and decide where it will be sold.

It might be harder work, but there's an advantage. When you self-publish, you get to make all the decisions. You can write whatever you want without worrying about someone else telling you no. Plus, you get to keep more of the money from selling the book.

People who choose to self-publish can be really happy because they get to create something they love and share it with the world in their own way. So "self-publish, be happy" means you can write your own book and do it your way. Isn't that cool?