The Whats Whys and whynots of going indie

Some years ago, 6 i believe, I completed writing a book that I loved.  Looking at it now I still love it.  Not  many books of poetry have the potential to actually change people's lives but in my deepest soul I believe that I have written such a book.

Not only do I think it brilliant but friends of mine, who I asked to look it over back then loved it as much as I do if not even more.  At the time I was performing works from that book regularly at poetry gigs and open mics and to my surprise I didn't even get sick of them.  It was not until last year that I attempted to get said book published.

While attempting to get my book published, while submitting it and waiting the interminable wait for replies, I published other works both new works and others from my backlist on Smashwords, having little success  but seeing enough to become a believer in the power of independent ebook publishing.

Today, only minutes ago, my beloved book was rejected by my favorite publisher, one that I truly though would love my book.  Yes, I know it happens all the time that most people find it hard to get published but I also know that publishers are only human and they make mistakes.  What if my book is truly as great as I say but the publishers made a silly mistake?

Then there is the other problem, I live in Australia with a population around 20 million.  Even though publishers can get their work distributed anywhere in the world their first thought needs to be "can we sell this on the local market".  Well, my book might not do well locally, it would do better internationally.  Also, I want a lot of people to have the chance to discover it, and a local publisher reduces my chance of that happening.

My questions to myself are, 1) Will I get more of a market if I go indie with this book?
2)  Am I holding on to my life-long desire to see my name on the spine of a book in a bookshop too tightly

Answer to 1) is most likely and 2) is almost certainly

Therefore the answer to "should I make it indie"?  Is probably "stop being a doofus and just do it"

It's amazing how writing it all down helps clarify my thoughts