If I want to write for just myself, I can just journal or blog. A book is a significant undertaking, writing one which no one reads would just be depressing.
the gist of the idea: >
yeah idk but something like curation is done by commitee (to try and maintain a minimum of quality overall)
(that’d be the self-serve part i guess)
tbh hardest is still marketing. good books are not only text but also covers and the like
This is very much what pragprog.com is meant to be. I'm only on the volunteer curation committee so have less insight into the feedback cycle for authors post-acceptance, but every author who's published on the platform I've talked to has been pretty positive about the experience.
The OP didn't go into nearly as many (indeed, any) details as to why their second publishing attempt with them in particular did not work out, I'd be curious to learn more.
The hardest part still being networking into others lives to distribute the message
You just re-invented our economy