I had a military history book published. It was actually a website with quite a deal of content that I put together and a publisher came to me and asked if we could do it in book form.

Didn't sell that many copies but I was happy just to have one on my bookshelf.

I published an academic work that did quite well in my very small field of work. It was a trip. I'm a super nerd about the subject, so devoted myself completely over sabbatical to meeting anyone with connections and reading all the literature. It got considerably less fun once the actual writing started, but I'm glad I did it.

Check out lulu.com.

It's self publishing print on demand.

How many agents did you query?

Ive published via smaller university publishers. Its a lot of work for not a lot of money but it was good to finally get a complete body of work published. I went out to publish two more books through similarly sized publishers. The way I make my money though is writing prefaces for bigger/more widely published pieces. The childrens market is tough; very over saturated. But as with anything pursue what you love. Don't expect major $ though! Especially on a first publish.

I've written a children's book and would love to hear from your experiences!

I'm also working on a YA novel as well.