It's so good to meet another "hobby-author" (as I label myself). I've been self-publishing for over a decade now and the tips/gotchas you mention resonate as st

It's so good to meet another "hobby-author" (as I label myself). I've been self-publishing for over a decade now and the tips/gotchas you mention resonate as strongly today as they did when I started out on this unconventional path. My goto publishing platforms have been, since the early days, lulu.com for print-on-demand and Smashwords for ePub. I chose lulu because there weren't many (reasonably) simple online publishing services in the days before Kindle Direct Publishing. I considered moving to KDP after it launched but, sadly, I developed an intense dislike for the whole Amazon book publishing/selling ecosystem - I still happily buy books on Amazon, but as I give all my published work away for free Amazon is not a place where I feel the need to list my work for download. And for the last few things I've published, I've not even bothered with Lulu: ePub is enough to satisfy my needs. I chose Smashwords for similar reasons - there just wasn't many other options around when I started, and the core services Smashwords delivers (ePub generation from docx files, and distribution to Apple's bookstore) still meet my requirements. The one big gap in Smashwords's distribution network (ignoring Amazon) is the Google Play store; it's an additional bit of work to manually upload the ePub/cover files to Google and copy over the book details/metadata to get it listed to my satisfaction. The only cost of this publishing activity is my time. I spend £0 on marketing/promotional stuff; I will occasionally spam friends/family on Facebook with updates ... but that's the price they have to pay for being related/friends with me! You mentioned the key advantage of self-publishing: the ease of updating the books whenever you want/need to update/correct the copy. No book, in my view, is ever "finished" - all of my books will always be works-in-progress, until I die (of course). As for sales ... never underestimate the role that pure, blind luck plays in the process of popularising a book. My "bestseller" has been shifting 30-60 downloads a month for many years. Soon after I uploaded the book it got featured on the Apple Books front page via some algorithmic mystery, stirred enough interest through a clickbaity title to get into the top 50 poetry books list ... and has never looked back since! I like to think the book's success is down to the astonishing quality of the poems. Critics are free to disagree! Best wishes with your endeavours!