Here are some of the companies you could use to self publish your book.
Distribution/Sales Reach: product sales page + book goes on Amazon.
Cost: You have to pay for a proof copy to be printed and shipped to you. You can also pay $39 to upgrade to the PRO plan, which means printing costs go down a little for you. If you sell more than about 20 copies or so (depending on the number of pages in your book), it works out in your favor to upgrade.
What you have to do: Layout your own text. You can design your own cover, or you can use their cover designer.
Notes: See my article CreateSpace vs. Lulu
Distribution: Inclusion in the Lulu online store. You can pay a fee to get more distribution: Amazon.com
Cost: Free to get your book ready to be ordered. You pay more to get the various distribution channels.
What you have to do: Layout your text. You have the option of designing your cover from scratch, or using their online cover designer thing.
Notes: Bulk pricing is generally not as good as getting a print run done with a standard offset printer. See my article CreateSpace vs. Lulu
Distribution/Sales Reach: Unibook.com online bookstore. I couldn’t find any other distribution options.
Cost: Free to set up your book.
What you have to do: Layout text, front cover.
Notes: Great pricing for printing hardcovers. It’s a little restrictive as far as book cover design goes, also, you don’t get an author discount when you purchase copes. If it is possible, I couldn’t find out how. Of course you still end up getting paid your royalty on the sale. I yhink it would be easier for the author to take the discount on the front end. See my UniBook review.
Lightning Source – If you want go all the way and become a publisher, then you can use lightning source to print your books POD.
BookSurge – CreateSpace’s big brother.
What other companies should I add to this list? Is there a good review I can link to? Is there a review you’d like to post here?