Start with the outcome, not the label
The useful question is not 'Which route is best?' It is what you want to happen to this particular work and which responsibilities you are willing to take on.
Different forms can use different routes. A short story may go to a magazine or anthology; a poetry pamphlet may go to a small press or be self-published; a trade non-fiction project may be sold from a proposal; a zine may be deliberately small and direct.
Publisher-led
A publisher selects the work and takes responsibility for defined publishing functions under a contract. Some publishers normally work through agents; others accept direct submissions. Small and independent presses may have very different lists and submission processes from large trade houses.
Selection is competitive and requirements are source-specific. The publisher's current submission page is the authority for how to approach them.
Selective publication
Journals, magazines, competitions and anthologies can be the main publication route for shorter work or a way of publishing individual pieces before or alongside a larger project.
These routes frequently have hard eligibility, length, prior-publication, rights, deadline and file rules.
Self-publication
Self-publishing means the creator takes the publisher role and either performs or commissions editorial, design, production, metadata, distribution and publicity work.
It can offer direct control and speed, but it transfers decisions, costs and operational responsibility to the creator.
A route can change
Choosing a route is not a statement about the artistic worth of the work. Projects can move between routes, and different works by the same person can use different models.
Before paying money or granting rights, understand which type of relationship you are actually entering.
Before you move on
- Define what you want this work to achieve.
- Check which routes actually accept this form and audience.
- Compare who pays, who decides and who performs each publishing task.
- Check what rights or control would be granted.
- Do not treat a paid service as equivalent to publisher selection.