This post ignores the fact that it is very difficult to get any exposure even as a traditionally-published, agent-having author. Getting traction in self-publis

This post ignores the fact that it is very difficult to get any exposure even as a traditionally-published, agent-having author. Getting traction in self-publishing is doubly or triply more difficult. In technical writing, it's probably easier than in, say, fiction or literary nonfiction, but that doesn't make it easy. If your goal is to have a physical book to represent your efforts and offer to others as a side effect, then by all means, self-publish. If your goal is a) to have a somewhat objective perspective on whether your work is good, b) to get a large audience to pay attention to your work, c) to have any kind of career as a writer, or d) have the best possible (edited and designed) version of your work out there, self-publishing is rarely the way to go. I'm not saying it never happens - there are success stories out there, usually authors who self-publish first and are then picked up by a traditional house to go the extra distance - but it isn't the most likely outcome.