I use create space. It Prints on demand. I can keep track of books sold, costs, etc.

If I ever decide to publish my book, I might seek out the assistance of TCK Publishing. [tckpublishing.com] I met Tom Corson Knowles at my local Writers Conference and it seems he helps authors self publish and handles the marketing etc., for 50% of the royalties, so the author gets 50%.

I've noticed that the books he publishes are on Amazon for pretty cheap, so I'm not sure how rich an author would get, but it seems an easy way to get guided assistance in self publishing/marketing.

His website offers a lot of information to peruse, in any case, which can help with marketing your own self published work. The tips and tricks are likely geared for US authors, so I'm not sure how different it would be in UK.

I've self published three novels on Amazon for Kindle download. Sales have been sluggish to say the least. I'm considering a two fold approach from here: try to secure some endorsement from someone who is a known published author (because, in the publishing world, I am a currently a nobody) which goes back to your idea of marketing; and seek publication from an actual publishing house. I don't really have answers but I share your dilemma.

I use self publishing only as a form of copyrighting, back in the old days I used to send a sealed and dated copy of my work to myself.
Didn't stop me getting ripped off, but since then I've been putting kindle copies live on Amazon.
I've sold a few but I don't actively market them.

I've never self published anything, but I've begun thinking about it for a couple of books I have that would be a hard sell to a regular publisher. I'll be paying attention to what goes on in this thread to learn what I can.

One of my best friends has done so with some significant success. Hes written and published around 10 books or so.

[irrationalworlds.com]

Not yet,but please keep me posted on how you made out. How are you going to do it?... Good luck