Publishing a book is very do-able—though a huge project—if you learn about writing and publishing. You need to determine the goal of your book and the audience you want to reach as well as the topic of the book.

Often small presses are much better for niche markets. The big publishers want books that sell to millions to people, but small presses can publish books for smaller markets. I enjoy many small press books more than traditional large publishers because small presses are more open to books that are different rather than just what has proven to sell, like celebrity books.

I know there is some good stuff on lulu.com; however, as you say, the percentage is pretty small since it’s so easy for anyone to publish.

Inexperienced writers often think they’re finished after the first draft, which is really just the beginning. And no matter how good a writer is, she always needs someone else to edit. We just can’t catch all of our own mistakes, and what we write makes sense to us so we don’t recognize some of it doesn’t make sense to someone else.