Take my manuscript to an agent, straight to publishers, or self-publish?

[kag]

4. I wrote a non-fiction history book...

and self-published. Unless you are absolutely committed to learning how to market your book, I don't recommend it.

I now have a guest room full of books that I may never sell. Don't get me wrong...Everyone who has commented back to me on it has loved it, and not just a little. In fact, I've begun working with a "real" publisher, but she wants a new cover, and some better front and back material, so she's working with me to produce a second edition. (Thus, my problem with ever selling the originals.) The whole exercise started me out in a financial hole that I might have avoided if I had just tried harder to find a publisher in the beginning.

I have talked to self-publishers who can do it, and do it well. But the trick is marketing. No matter how great the book is, it really doesn't "sell itself". You have to be willing to do that, and do it for a long time. There are some good books out there on how to market, it just turns out to be an exercise that my heart was never in.

Good luck.