There are basically three options for getting your book published. You can try to get your book proposal accepted by one of the industry giants like Penguin or Random House but thats a tough road. Those companies only work with proven authors or those who already have huge platforms and salivating audiences. Having said that, if you manage to get accepted, youll end up with a huge implied endorsement and a ton of indisputable credibility.
On the other end of the spectrum, you could self-publish your own book. The nice thing about this approach is that the only person who has to approve your book is you! If you want to publish your own book, go right ahead. In fact, given the advancements in technology, you can do exactly that and order as little as one book at a time. The downside is that the credibility is far lower than with a major publisher.
These two options seem to be on opposite ends of the continuum and indeed have plenty of differences between them. Luckily, theres a third category that sits comfortably in the middle. Its the category of smaller independent publishers and there are thousands of them. They range from very small mom and pop...