I am not a writer, but this is a serious question. You finished your masterpiece...all of the publishers show interest but ultimately turn you down....so you look into self publishing. Anyone can sell their books on Amazon for a fee. Is that the only choice. Are there other options out there or is Amazon the only avenue for unestablished authors?
A friend of mine has at least two books published by Lulu.com. Heres the link,
Nutz
Self Publishing - Lulu.com
at $3.25 per hundred pages, seems like Amazon free print on demand would make more economic sense, or be less risky.
Anyone can format their masterpiece on Microsoft word and post it on any website to sell without any cost to Amazon or Lulu.
Assuming they can find someone to buy it (though PDF would be a better format than Word)
The format isn't word...it is a kindle format. That can be done through word. AND, there are a number of applications that do the same thing.
And again, whether Amazon, Lulu or mybook.com, marketing and talent is left up to the author. Hell, I could probably sell a copy of two of transcripts of this discussion for a buck. My question is about the sites used to deliver the product.