The Self-publishing Experience So Far

I am new to the self-publishing industry.  I tried to find an agent for my new novel, Affection for Crime, but I was unsuccessful.  I will admit that I was not very good with the process of looking for an agent.  First, I had to research the agents and agencies to see if their interests matched my interests.  That grew boring quickly which, all in all, means that I would quit for long periods of time.   When I returned to my research, I found I had forgotten much of what I had already researched.  I should have made notecards as I did in graduate school, but I had left that life behind and was determined not to relive it.  Then, I had to put the novel and query letter into each agency's format for submission.  Would I need to email the query letter or send it by snail mail? Did it need to be an attachment or part of the body of the email?   Did the agency want the first three chapters, the first fifty pages, a synopsis, a brief description, or my first-born child?  I decided to create a spreadsheet so that I could keep track of who wanted what.  In short, I began to feel like a bookkeeper--not one of my better skills.  I will admit that after going through all of this and, then, receiving rejection letters, I became discouraged.  Who wouldn't?  I expected them to accept my book simply because I had maneuvered my way around their obstacles.  By the way, most agencies do not respond at all.  Some are kinder.   "I love your main character, Maggie Hall, but we are not publishing this type of book now." I next decided it would be easier to self-publish.  I have an iPad and use iBooks; so, my first choice was with iBooks.  In exploring that route, I found that Smashwords would do the necessary conversions at no cost.  I am retired; so, "at no cost" means a lot to me.  Obviously, they take a percentage of sales.  That's assuming someone buys my book.  I found Mark Coker's style guide easy to follow and clearly written.  The conversion worked, and my book was accepted into Smashwords' Premium Catalog.  From there it was distributed to iBooks, Sony, Barnes and Noble, and more.  The Smashwords site is easy to navigate and to monitor sales and distribution.  So far, I am quite satisfied.  Since some of my friends have Kindles, I decided to get my book into Amazon's Kindle Book.  That process was fast, from conversion to inclusion.  It was, however, a bit more confusing to find information on how to do it.  If I had not done Smashwords first, I doubt I could have managed.  Now I was getting brave, and an expert by my standards.  My standards are low.  I decided to try Google's Books Partner Program.  I'm still confused.  I think my book will be on their site in about two weeks.  Actually, I have four books in my account being processed.  They are, of course, all the same book.  Don't ask how that happened.  I'm still not clear.  So far so good.  Next, I decided to find out how to market my book.  Mark Coker's Book Marketing Guide is helpful as is http://www.spacejock.com.au/MarketingYourBookOnline.html and http://www.essortment.com/market-promote-book-34433.html.  Now that I am trying to be a responsible author, I have had to create a website and a blog.  I might, according to these sources, also have to make friends on Facebook.  Is this the world I wanted?  I am reminded of a business venture about twenty years ago.  Two friends (you know who you are) and I decided to decorate t-shirts to match glitzy, cheap earrings we found.  I am, in all modesty, telling you that the t-shirts looked great.  Unfortunately, we had three artists and no marketers.  I think I still have some of those shirts and earrings in my closet.  Anyway, enough about t-shirts and cheap earrings, have you tried to self-publish?  What have your experiences been like?  Also, please take the poll on best experiences located near the bottom of this page.