Success with self-published books

More and more author who can't get their book published make headlines by publishing it themselves. In England, a guy named George Coutauld celebrates an unexpected success with his first, self-published "Pocket Book of Patriotism". The 40 year old recruiter took 26,000 orders alone in the first week. His simple guide to historical facts of England is now into its fifth print run, and the website Courtauld set up to sell the book received 142,000 hits in one day alone.
Other self-published books like "Eats, Shots and Leaves" - a witty essay about punctuation - and "Schott's Original Miscellany" - a collection of essential trivia - already made it into England's bestseller lists.