A few questions...

1- Is it better to self publish and how/where do I do this?

Depends on what you want to accomplish with your writing.

If you want to simply see your book in print and don't mind marketing it yourself, then sure. Self publish. But if you want to have your book in major bookstores and want to do basically just write for a living? Traditionally publish. That is a very simplified distinction but it holds relatively true.

Self publishing involves writing a fantastic book, getting editors to look it over (because if you don't the book will be a lot worse for wear), dealing with all the nuances of formatting, and proceeding to market yourself effectively. All of these things in and of themselves are difficult, with marketing qualifying as a full time job in and of itself. It's very difficult to market yourself effectively. On top of that, you have to stand out from the hundreds of self published books out there.

However, if you traditionally publish, you basically just get to write. You do some fan interaction, yes, and you have to keep an eye on deadlines, but for the most part, you just get to write. Your publisher takes care of marketing, formatting, and editing. It's part of why you traditionally publish.

This goes into more detail about when you should/should not self publish. Self publishing a book also means traditional publishers will never take it, so if you change your mind you're out of luck.

Also, scams are absolutely rampant in the publishing world. Always run any opportunity (even traditional publishers!) through things like writer beware before signing anything, and get a lawyer to look it over. Always get a lawyer to look over any contracts you sign, regardless of whether it's traditional or self publishing. Preferably a lawyer who knows copyright law. (Protip: you should not pay somebody to publish your story. Reputable publishers, even self publishers, pay you. They make money from royalties you sell)

2) I need a book cover, will I need to pay someone to create one for me?

If you self publish? Please yes. If you don't, it's part of the costs publishers spend on you when they sign you.

Graphic design is a hard job and people can/will charge $15 to even $50 an hour for good graphic design/illustration. You pay this amount of money because they have fancy software and years of experience in making eye-catching designs that readers will actually gravitate towards. Now, do keep in mind that is per hour. Individuals can take multiple hours on your piece, so you can easily pay hundreds to get something large and detailed for a book cover. Even if it's simple, it takes time to draw and colour a concept, not to mention go through the approval process with you.

Traditional publishing means you get basically no control over the book cover, but that can actually be a good thing. You yourself don't really know what sells books. The graphic designers who work for publishing companies do. You can still end up with a bad cover, but those tend to be anomalies instead of the norm. You also don't have to pay for it out of your own pocket.

I'd suggest getting somebody else to do your cover even if you are an artist. Because there is a difference between "art" and "art that will sell books". You can be a fantastic artist, but "good artist" is not synonymous with "good marketer". You have to be both to have an effective book cover.

3) I'm not very familiar with royalties, what is a decent royalty rate?

That is changing all the time and depends on how you publish. When it comes to traditional publishing, digital copies can get more royalties than print copies because they don't have to pay for printing (paper is expensive), but I've not heard of royalties veering much from 10%-15% (after all, your book sales have to pay for all the editing and graphic design and formatting the publisher spent on you). However, last time I looked into royalties was multiple years ago and there have already been some game-changing deals in the publishing industry that could impact how royalties are paid out.

If you self publish, your royalties are higher (depending on if printed or digital), but you have to pay far more out of your own pocket in order to produce a quality book. You also have to do your own marketing, and you're not guaranteed any money back. That depends on people buying your book, and it's very hard to break into the market.

Either way, the royalties you get off publishing are unlikely to be enough to live off of until you get a lot of books published, all of them selling decently well. It's taken most authors I follow multiple years of writing, producing about half a dozen to a dozen books, for them to be able to support themselves.

I'm just going to address a little thing outside your questions:

I am in the process of writing a novel and I will hopefully be publishing it soon

The idea of publishing "soon" is a very variable thing, and the process of actually producing books can take at least months, if not multiple years. It depends on how fast you write and how many rounds of editing you have to go through. Some writers take multiple years to get their books to publishable quality, while professional writers tend to be faster because they have deadlines to hit. Still, a series of four books I'm reading right now has been one book released a year and the writer still talks about how much work is required to hit those deadlines, in order to give herself enough time to edit the work and rewrite if necessary.

I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm just trying to say that depending on the amount of time you can devote to editing and really polishing the story— which takes quite a bit of work— then you might take longer than you think. But if you really love the story, stick with it. Just know it might take awhile to really get the story the best it can be.

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