There are many opinions online regarding how you should handle self-publishing schedule or format: write a series! Write different books and see what sticks! Write what you want? Write for market!
After years of struggling to figure it out, I decided to ask your opinion on that, and since every case is a case, let me briefly explain mine for context
I am a published writer in Brazil. Not big, but I have around 10 published fantasy, sci-fi and horror books, plus a dozen or so short stories. Some traditionally, some self-published. Even a couple of books I was hired to write for game IPs. I got a couple of awards and decent pay and reviews for my work
But the Brazilian market is tiny. I'm writing in English now, and got many of my books translated, focusing on my scifi first
I don't have a huge long series. I don't wrote for market. I have many standalone books set in the same universe but with very different tropes or subgenres: the found family crew, the military scifi, even some horror sci-fi. Most were published 10+ years ago in Brazil
Every advice I find online make it sound like I shouldn't publish them. Pick one and turn them into a series! Adapt it for the self-published market or fail!
Does it make sense? With 4 standalone books ready and waiting to be published, all set in the same universe? All already published previously in another country and with good reviews?
Is the self-published market THAT specific? That's not how it goes in trad publishing, so i'm seriously confused about how set in stone things seem to be in self-publishing. Or am I getting this wrong?
What do you think?