“Self publishing”
I think it would be safe to say that most writers want to be published, although many will write for themselves and the love of writing. Writing a book, editing, finding an agent, editing again … is a lot of hard work and takes great commitment. However, there is another way of going about it – self publishing. Despite, the arguments about if self publishing is a taboo or not, it is a practical method (budget permitting) to make your book known to the public. Some known authors have taken this road, before becoming known. Brunania Barry self published 2,000 copies, ( as told in a Borders interview) then hired a public relations company. She did things a bit different from others; she took a leap of faith, quit her job, and wrote. She knew she wanted to be a novelist, this book started as a dream.
So, we have a succesful story of a self published author (in the beginning); but this jumpstarted her dream, and now her career – her book, The lace reader. Self publishing may not be for every writer, but it certainly presents a possibility to jumpstart a writer’s career – when accompanied with a good PR firm. It is up to you to decide which road to take, but most important, for the love of writing.
Inkspeare 
Self-publishing is a viable way to get your book in print. It doesn’t have to be expensive if you publish POD. And with all the Internet resources available, it’s easy to publicize your book. 🙂
I agree, POD is one of the least expensive ways to self- publish, however, even that most POD publishers offer some type of marketing assistance, marketing is really up to the author. Because is print on demand, backordering has been an issue for bookstores. But I agree with you that it is an efficient and budget friendly way to self publish, more cost efficient than vanity publishing or subsidy publishing.