You've never seen Dan Poynter's Self-publishing Manual? Or the Rosses' book on self-publishing?
Both are self-published.
Interesting omission for a denizen of self-publishing threads.
--Ken
well, THAT didn't come off smug at all.....after all, why would anyone want to, lik,e research self-pubbing or browse an open forum without buying the "correct" books.
I was going to answer the original question "zero" but then I remembered buying (2 copies, in fact) of Atlanta Nights. Whew, guess I can play here. Since I can, here's my take:
I only bought the one book because it was something unique I wanted. I don't have an e-reader, though I suspect I will soon, which shuts out a huge swath of self-pub right there. Of the stuff "out there" already, I would probably buy "I hope they serve beer in Hell" to give it a look, and there are a few folks here I know enough of that I'd be tempted to buy something from them, but that's about it.
Why? Why so few? Because those folks I have come to know a bit, and respect from what I do know. Experience becomes my substitute "gatekeeper" (note how I consider it a beneficial form of triage--at least SOMEONE even liked Dan Brown, for example--as opposed to the dirty word some people make it out to be in one-sided little rants) and I feel a measure of confidence in those people and their abilities I don't find in randomly downloading e-books, and with the morass out there, there's no way I'm going to spend half a day on Amazon or anywhere else browsinf the first five pages of book after book.
So one so far. With an e-reader, probably a few dozen over a couple years...or less. I like getting books where I've heard something about them ("Beer" did get a lot of press and rose above the sea of self-pubs) or where I know the authors (which is why I'd consider one from a known writer here).....but I don't shop for books in the same way as others do, clearly.
As for the OP's business model, since all you've offered so far is "I'm going to do something new" without being able to elaborate on what that is, and "meh, I'll have only put a few dollars into it" I'm strongly inclined to agree with Terie; I can't, for the life of me, see how an inability to communicate your unique advantage coupled with indifference is a recipe for anything even remotely resembling success.