I can report on this from having looked into this matter and pondered it very thoroughly for years.

--Traditional publishing with its mechanism of advertising and distribution works well for those who are (A) concerned with making money by their writing; and/or (B) publishing novels and works of (supposedly!) wide interest in which you have to reach the masses to sell any books. The big downside comprises: Trying to interest the publisher in the project (people look on publishers as some sort of Writing Gods; but no, they're businessmen and businesswomen who are trying to make a living and investing in things they hope will pay off; consequently, the writer's desiderata and ideas and whims and fancies are constantly on the chopping block in order to optimize potential sales in the eyes of the publishers and their financial advisors); dealing with the publisher's requirements to change this and that; and waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting . . . If memory serves, publication of the original edition of The Old Rose Advisor took a numbing two or three years from submission of the manuscript. To me, that's completely unacceptable: One's great discoveries and remarkable revelations can easily become old hat by the time the book is published; and, golly THE WORLD IS WAITING (or so the writer likes to think).

--Amazon and the like works well for those who are writing "niche interest" works in which those interested in the subject have as it were their own social structure and the book reaches people mainly via word of mouth and organizations/publications/forums devoted to the niche. Further, those availing themselves of this Amazon-type process need to have the discipline and stick-to-it-iveness to do themselves what, in traditional publishing, the publisher's publishing experts and company lackeys do: Formatting, proofreading, a sense of how it will read (you've got to get out of your own head and read it as a reader reads it, not as an author reads it), a notion of publishing traditions (which is a part of reader expectations when they purchase a book), an idea of design, and so on. It's particularly difficult for an author to proofread his own work, because the author's mind knows what the author intended, and blithely skips over typos and omissions because "I know what you mean"). But your book is really Your Book when it comes out. It's a wonderful feeling. This new tripartite edition of The Old Rose Adventurer embodies my original concept of what the book should be; and I am convinced that the result serves both reader and writer much better than the original edition did (even aside from the updates and new information).

One has to take an honest look at one's self, and make the decision about how to publish based on that.

I'm particularly proud of the Floribunda book, thanks so much for your interest! It thoroughly covers a subject (early Floribundas, from the beginning to 1945) which has been scandalously neglected. I'm pleased to be able to state that I was able to ferret out many "new" things of interest about many of these neglected varieties. People have neglected the traditional Old Roses; even more so do people neglect the old Floribundas, the Polyanthas, the old Hybrid Teas, the Pernetianas. I hope to turn that around!