Friends have told me that the royalty return from their commercially published books is so small at hardly be worth the bother. If the book is any good there is, however, the cudos of an enhanced reputation associated with reaching a larger potential market if that it the aim.

On the other hand an overseas friend with a sense of nostalgia wants to publish a book of anecdotes or stories about his experiences in his town before leaving the country, followed by, perhaps, a book of poetry. I can see no clear target audience for such projects which must surely be just for self satisfaction.

I can only say that my self-publishing project, involving my own design work and using a private printer was both great fun and a rewarding experience in its own right. Promotion through a local glass club, on the web and via my ISBN number seems to work well enough to engender orders from both Europe and America as well as at home. So I would advise those interested to have a go but start with a very modest print number of just a few copies to test its potential before lashing out on a more extravagant basis.