Oh, my goodness -- another newbie

Welcome! You should check out the 'Keyboard Smash' game, seems like it would be right up your alley

In my opinion, you came to the right place. There is a heck of a lot of knowledge to be had here and a heck of a lot of nice folks.

So, make yourself at home!

Also new and happy to see a fellow newbie! I love the “semi-retired” phrasing, it makes me dream of the optionality of work... good luck on the publishing journey, I’ll be following intently.

Hi SapereAude
Welcome here. I'm kind of a newbie myself, but have found this group to be extremely friendly. Well, most groups are.
You should check out Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). It's actually quite easy. The site instructs you step by step or e-book or paperback. It prompts you to enter all of your information in 3 different sections...(all in lay-mans terms). If you have the body of your book in 'Word', you are prompted to upload it. In one of the steps, you are advised to add your cover image, or use their 'cover creator' where it has designs, etc. & recommendations. You're advised to upload your biography & synopsis (Word as well). At the end of it you are prompted to insert the amount $$$ that you want to charge. (they make $$$ recommendations that you can, or not use) It is really an easy to use tool. You can have it ready to publish on the first day. Check it out...Oh yeah It doesn't cost a dime up front and their royalties are around 60% to 70%...

Now for the disclaimer. I just set our books in this site a few months ago, and I get reports of sales as they happen. I am not saying this is the best way to go. This message is purely my opinion of how my experiences have gone. They may be totally different for you...There! LOL

Wow you have an impressive resume. I get, how hard it is to find work as a senior. I was nudged out of a job (out with the old...(but they can't admit to that)) as Environmental Health & Safety Management Representative for a Tier One Corporation, which I had been in their employ for over 25 years. I also couldn't afford to leave, but I made adjustments to my spending & lifestyle (dropped 1 vehicle, travel time diminished, wear levis only LOL etc...) I love it now...with Covid, you can't really spend money anyway...LOL. You're not alone my friend. When I retired I finally had the time to finish my book "The Accidental Brotherhood. It took me a couple of years to finish it, and I was thinking like you are about self publishing, until I found out about Amazon. (I should send Amazon a bill for the plug...LOL),as at the same time I dabbled in Computer Programming Using Excel VBA (Visual Basics for Applications). I actually created a great program that tracks Vital Signs & Dietary Meal Nutritional Values consumed. Over 7000 lines of code later: my wife and myself use it daily, but I need an 'inside connection', to help promote it for millions to the big boys...LOL). So I guess I'm going to rely on my book sales. I do my share of social networking (like this) now and It's really a lot of fun and rewarding. I try to help people whenever I post, so right now I guess it's you. I hope that I gave you some insight that is useful for you.
If you want please feel free to check out my website...also very inexpensive as I created it myself using Vista Print Website Tool. (another plug sheesh) The website has links to my Amazon pages for all of my wifes & my books. pamjimbondy.vistaprintdigital.com
Holy Cow...long winded today.

Welcome to the community! As a fellow new person myself, I look forward to seeing you around the forums!

Hello there! Welcome to AW. Looking forward to seeing you around!