I live in Anza, California, in the United States, and I have been writing for over 35 years.  I have had books “conventionally” published by what we in the States call “The Big 5 Publishing Companies.”  I have had books published by what is referred to as “hybrid” publishing houses, where the author is charged a fee and then supposedly receives professional layout, formatting, editorial, publishing, and marketing services.  Well…that’s what they say, anyway.  I have self-published my own books on Amazon, which initially cost me nothing, but they take a pretty high royalty cut. Competition is stiff, as there are now millions of self-published books on Amazon, and it’s hard for me to separate myself from the herd.  I pay $300 per title to a book formatting company, Word2Kindle, to format my book’s interior, create cover art, and issue PDF files, so I can go to Amazon’s Kindle platform…