Self publishing vs traditional house publishing Q:1

I talked with an acquaintance today about her publishing experience.  She's been picked up by a smallish house, and her book launched just as the pandemic hit.  Bad timing there. 

 

She's been booked for 30+ interviews at this point and feels that she's got a great publicity team that is coming up with creative ways to market.  She's thrilled with her experience and satisfied with knowing her work is in bookstores all around the country.  

However, she won't know for about six months how well the books have sold-- if they have sold.  Another casual giving away of truth when going with a "house" when it comes to selling your story?  I haven't ever worked within a system when you had zero notion of how well/not well your product is selling.  The discomfort in that ambiguity is a place I dare not tread.  Maybe?  

    

But what about this question → how seriously will booksellers take you if you aren't within THE SYSTEM?  After all, there is a lot of garbage out there, who's to say that my book won't be as well.  Do you need the validation of the big guys to even be looked at?

    

As I ponder and wonder about the differences between independent publishing and the traditional house model, I keep returning to the same conclusions.  If you have the time, skillset, and desire to run the show, why hand the whole shebang to the industry?