What is this obsession with Self Publishing?

Man, I cannot believe how pervasive the notion of self-publishing has become. By the sounds of it there is no such thing as a recession with the millions of dollars Canadians and especially Albertans are spending paying to be published.

This is a major issue which I shall elaborate on further in another forum soon, but just let me say that I think it's a crime that companies can charge upwards of $5,000 dollars to publish a book that won't have a chance on bookshelves. And so called writers are paying it everyday and wondering why they never see a dime in real sales.

In 4 weeks a new website called Indie Community will be launching in the States for the sole purpose of being a place that Independent authors and writers can chat about how much money they all paid to see a low return on investment. Well I'm sure that's not the goal of the site but it might as well be. Argh.
Stay tuned for more of this discussion in an article coming soon.