"HI THERE! I'M PLANNING ON SELF PUBLISHING MY NOVEL. WHAT'S THE BEST PUBLISHING COMPANY?"

I'm not quite sure if I'm misunderstanding your question or not, but if you choose to self-publish, you are taking on the role of publisher with all that entails.  There are certainly some print on demand companies out there that will print it for you, but unless you pay a hefty fee, you're still the one doing all the preparation of the book, including cover copy, graphics/photos, editing, promotion, and you're the one who has to do the leg work to get the book into the aforementioned store shelves.  They just print, you promote and sell.  You order extra copies as needed, you return defective copies, you keep the invoices and take control of sells. 

Now, true, for a hefty fee, as noted earlier, some companies will sell you a set of services, ranging from doing the cover and editing to templates for press releases and such.  Unless you have a niche market, these are largely useless and, besides, as writers we should be able to create our own press releases, IMHO.  That said, I'd never venture to do it all alone.  I'm a great editor, for instance, but only on something others have written, for instance.  It might be well worth your while to tap into the consulting services of whatever service you select if you don't have the contacts to help you through this long, complicated process alone.  Getting a book into print, even via services like Lulu, CafePress, or even Amazon, isn't a piece of cake.  You might get a hard copy of your book out of it, but will it be something you're proud of.  Don't get me wrong, I've seen nice stuff come outta all three of these, but my hunch is they are from someone with a background in editing and or book preparation.  Let's face it, some people think all that's involved in self-publishing is writing the book and turning it into a pdf file, uploading it to one of these print on demand services and then sitting back and waiting for the profit to roll in.  Isn't going to happen, at least without a ton of hard work on your part, the smallest of which will be getting the book into print.  Do you know how to contact media services, and who to talk to to generate press/media coverage for your book?  Who will you send those letter perfect press releases, too?  How to get on a radio show?  How about a TV appearance?  Who is your audience?  How do you reach them?  These and a flood of other issues are all your's to deal with as a self-publisher.  Unless you sign on for a package deal, all you're going to get from a print on demand type service is the printed copies of your books which, of course, you pay for upfront. 

I don't mean to discourage you, however.  Just to note that it's a difficult road you've chosen, one that it's rather difficult for me to give genuiine advice about since you don't even definitely mention the genre or audience.  Will it be all text or a picture book, for instance?  Adult, romance, paranormal, or what sort of niche will your book fall into?  Do you expect the printer to showcase your book?  Have you examined how many hits any of these sites get a day and the probability that your book will be seen?  Just too many questions in my mind right now to be able to give you any real advice other than to proceed optimistically but with caution.  I guess the real question, perhaps the first one I'd need answered to proceed is, "How many hours and dollars are you willing to put into promoting your book yourself, and what do you propose to do to promote it?"  That will tell me what level of services might work best for you.

The link below will be a good, general starting place.  Even tho' some of the articles are generic, they are an excellent starting point and there are tons of links within that might take you to places that will answer other questions you have.

Hi,

Have you checked out Book Surge?

They are a self-publishing and print-on-demand services.

Here is some of what it says at the site for you in case you don't want to go there right away.
---
You can build a market for your books, create sales and control your books' trajectory while keeping your options wide open.

You can get noticed by publishers looking for the next big thing or build a professional brand and business with your books.

BookSurge provides the tools you will need to guide your work to perfection, connections to enhance your success and production capabilities that keep your books printing and retail orders fulfilled, 24/7.
----

This is who I am going with here pretty soon, I can sell through Amazon which I like.
Check out the latest BookSurge titles at Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=s_sf_b_as/104-3317846-6983134?search-alias=stripbooks&rank=+relevancerank&field-publisher=booksurge%20publishing

There are 9,439 in the Booksurge catalog right now.


There you go
Have a great day

Many vanity presses and self-publishers are often nothing more than glorified Kinko's shops.  They will print your book on nice paper, bind it, and give you a few copies, but you pay them for the work, instead of the other way around.  If you are actually interested in becoming an author, try selling your book to an actual publisher.

There is a legitimate place for self-published books, such as books with a very limited audience (examples: school yearbooks, a genealogy of your ancestors to be passed down to your children, a book about a local organization written for members of the organization, and amateur poetry).  However, outside these few cases, many people are duped into buying their way into a book instead of selling it, the way it's supposed to be done.  There are a couple of useful sites to peruse:

• "Excuse me, how much did it cost you?", an essay written by novelist Ann Crispin
• Writer Beware, a site run by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (though the site is about all types of books, not just science fiction)

A couple of major points:  First, money is supposed to flow from the publisher to the writer, not the other way around.  Second, if you have an agent and they are charging you fees before they get you a signed contract with a (legitimate) publisher, RUN AWAY.  Agents make money from selling books.  If you are being asked to fork out money to have your book edited, for example, then this agent is making money from editing, not from selling books.

I hope this helps you.

A few books that may be of interest...

Give LuLu.com a try.  lulu is the greatest.  It is one of those hot upandcoming web companies that delights their customers. 

 

per lulu.com

 

Founded in 2002, Lulu is the web's premier independent publishing marketplace for digital do-it-yourselfers. It's the only place on the web where you can publish, sell and buy any and all things digital — books, music, comics, photographs, movies and well, you get the idea. We simply provide the tools that leave control of content in the hands of the people who created the content. You see, Lulu is a technology company, not a publisher. So you can use Lulu to publish and sell any kind of digital content, and no one here is going to ask you to change anything. Ever. Your vision is entirely YOURS.

 

There is no set-up fee and no minimum order to publish and sell on Lulu. We manage the online business, including printing, delivery and customer service. You set your own creator revenue for each piece of content, and at the end of each quarter, we'll mail you a check for the creator revenues your content generates. Lulu makes a small percentage from each transaction, which means that we only make money if you succeed in selling your work.

 

They provide an ISBN for a basic fee and provide great services (yes, I've used them while working with several projects). They will of course charge for extended services but you don't have to buy those services. You're going to have to do work on publicity on your own, however.