Beware of Author Mills

[Virtual Bison]

I also priced out some print on demand services and IMHO Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/) has the best deal. You do not pay anything unless you want to buy copies of your own work to distribute. Its pretty reasonably priced.

Well, I think Amazon's https://www.createspace.com/Author.jsp is the best I could find. Why? Print-on-demand? No. Editing&design services? ISBN service? No; useful if you don't know where to go, but you may find other venues...IT'S THE DISTRIBUTION THING.
Sure, many say they WILL do it, but...Amazon is all you need after all...even if all other options fail.
That's what killed more self-published books than anything else.
I tried to search createspace books on many third party websites I use to search for books, and they show up...you can actually order them...in electronic form, or in paper format.
That's all.
Ever read about that interesting book the owner of that unknown website wrote? If you wanted a copy, you had to send SASEs with cash, MO or a printed form to some PO box in Nevada or Iceland...then he maybe didn't get it, or he was piling up orders to justify another batch print...then he would wrap it up himself & send it to you...the book was lost? Too bad you pre-paid it, huh?
I see that lulu thing is a copy of the Amazon thing.

So Amazon is in the POD business?

Actually Lulu does list its books on Amazon and other online services.

Unless you are a vain indiviual who is only putting out a book to see your own name on the cover of a book, the most important thing an author can do is distribute his or her work. A good writer needs a good agent or at least a good publicist. That is, unless you have a few grand lying around and can afford to advertize it yourself.