For a few thousand bucks, you can self-publish your book through iUniverse and get it on the shelves of your local Chapters/Coles/Indigo. You can even get a package that includes a book signing. Folks may argue for the rising democratization of creativity due to new media, but this raises my eyebrows because it's still the same old scam: exploiting and profiting from others' dreams.
I wonder sometimes if startup culture and Dragons' Den have become hugely popular--making VCs like Mark Cuban into celebrities--because it's one of the last landscapes where you still need editorial input to survive. Someone with money, savvy and authority has to give you the thumb's-up, or else you can't continue what you're doing. Which isn't true anymore of writing, music and film.
