Okay, let's see if I got it all: ~ It's OK to want to see your book in bookstores, and to shoot for traditional publishing. ~ It's OK to want to see your book in bookstores, and also keep creative control, and shoot for self-publishing. ~ It's OK to amass rejections in the querying trenches, and switch to self-pub so your hard work doesn't die on your hard drive. ~ It's OK to self-publish, get publisher interest, and decide to leave self-pub for a trad deal. ALL PATHS ARE VALID. Whew.