>>7
The self publishing industry knows that the people who generally publish their brain children are also the same people who have no business sense whatsoever. Hence, the self publishing industry rips them off.
Anyone looking to publish a book should FIRST pursue a market for the book. Even if you end up going to a regular publisher in the end, you'll at least have demonstrated the market for the book from all your hard work, and can perhaps obtain better terms.
By pursuing a market, I mean doing all the hard and uncertain work of getting your book in the hands of people who want to read it. That means a minimum of a website, a connection to a larger Internet market (maybe an eBay store), and a lot of abrading you shoe leather by stocking your book in bookshops that agree to carry it. This is
really slow going, but if your book is good, then people will start to demand it. With organic demand, more bookstores will carry your book. With more stores carrying it, more people will see it, buy it, and recommend it to friends, leading to more demand. That's organic growth. It's hard to start, but very strong once you achieve it.
Also, don't dismiss placing your book into libraries as gifts. Sure, you want people to buy the book. However, they must know the book exists, and what it's about, before they will really demand it specifically. Library marketing could work for you.
Note all along that I made an assumption: the you had books in hand for all of this. Yes, you're going to have to spend money with a small book press to have copies made. The smaller the print run, the more expensive the book will be, but without vast resources (i.e. a real publisher) and print runs, you're stuck with low (probably ZERO) profits per book. At first. As your book's popularity builds, you can start thinking about either marketing it to a publisher, or you could risk a larger run yourself, which leads to a lower cost per book.
Remember, although there are always people who will want to read your book, you have to get it to them, and that takes a strong will on your part. You are always your book's biggest fan, and that's a liability for judging it, but at the same time it's necessary for seeing the book brought to the masses. Good luck.