We've seen a few people come through here with various different routes to publishing. One set up a Lulu shop and was noticed through proliferation on the net and managed to acquire a bricks and mortar contract for his book.
Things are changing now. In the music industry, the books (and ebooks method) and we're waiting to see just what wins out. Agent and then Publishing House, or do all the work yourself and see less overheads, more profit, but a gamble on reaching a wide audience.
Interesting to note that in the UK last year there were 200,000 books available through bricks and mortar establishments but 190,000 sold upto 3,500 copies each. The average author in the UK makes £4,500 a year from writing. Shops take half the face value of books, authors see say £0.50 to £1.00 for each book worth £6.99/£7.99 sold and it is disgusting that the true "artist" suffers where corporations and retail establishments squander the earnings.