I started along the self publishing route with the idea to gain some understanding of the publishing industry (or at least the business model for publishing). Tee hee - how naive! The ‘getting the books printed into a physical thing’ is a simple enough process. Publishing is a whole other beast entirely! Still, I was intrigued at the power of self-publishing and, well, needed to get Feng Shui Assassin into book form and out of my bottom drawer.
There are many issues about self-publishing, and the whole subject can raise ire, contempt and undue indignation from both sides. Here I lay out a number of discoveries about self-publishing. (Publish and be damned? Self-publish and be condemned!) 
Self-publishing:
Good for local projects and specialised interest books.
Bad for launching a career as a writer. Despite there being a number of good self-pubbed books out there - the majority are awful. It’s hard to sell a book. It’s harder to sell a bad book.
Good for mid-list authors with an established reputation in a defined genre and a healthy back catalogue. Especially with the rise of e-books and publishing online. Amazon & the Kindle have triggered popularity for reading on handheld devices.
Bad for thinking you will make money
Good for learning the system, the terminology and the route from screen to paper to shelf in the local bookshop.
Bad for gaining attention for your work. Write short stories and publish online with the plethora of e-magazines that are always seeking new content. All the while submit your manuscript to agents or whomever.
A little note on Publish-on-Demand books. Although I think that Amazon are likely to head towards POD production for their books (squeezing on those poor publishing houses) I would not recommend the POD as a way to self-publish. Better off to serialise your book on a blog (and monetise that way) than to lulu yourself. However, they are good for one off projects; designer photo books, family history and personal notebooks. Also, I would suggest they are particularly useful for editing your manuscript (reading your work in a book would help those repetitions and errors spring from the page :).
i am taking tutorial about self-publishing because it is also a good way of making money.,:`
Tia Gray
July 3rd, 2010
self-publishing is always good but it may require some initial capital and labor to run it.,’:
Amelia Thomas
July 29th, 2010
self publishing is one way of earning money specially if you got a best seller~;’
Melanie Long
September 28th, 2010
self-publishing is a nice way to promote your stuffs both online and offline:-”
Chair Pads
October 13th, 2010