I have self published several guide books. It’s been modestly profitable. Had I worked harder at promoting them it would have been more so. Your success depends on your goals and motivation
It’s hard to get a mainstream publisher interested in a new author. It’s easier if you can show them evidence of reader interest as you might be able to do if you self publish and find an audience. Remember, The Martian by Andy Weir was originally self published.
Dont worry about printing costs. These days you have many print-on-demand options available to you, including from Amazon, that don’t require a lot of out of pocket funds
My tips: 1) Get an excellent editor. You can’t copy edit yourself. No one can. 2) Use a real book designer to lay out the book and make sure they know what formats you intend to publish to, print, ebook, etc. 3) Have a marketing plan. Failing to plan is-in publishing as in all other areas of business-planning to fail. Then follow the plan. Following even a bad plan you’ll be more successful than just grabbing at straws, trying this or that.
Do it! There’s nothing like seeing your own work in print.
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