I should've started by saying my own personal experience is with recent attempts at writing fiction, inspired by real life events. IMHO writing fiction is totally different from writing nonfiction. As office manager for a local Soil Scientist, back in '81 and '82 I successfully developed graphics for two [Soil inventory & interpretive study] publications which have been distributed to area municipalities. The booklets and maps are works of excellence. In doing nonfiction a person is writing about facts, past and present. Not a problem. But I'm currently working on 2 Novels and 1 short story inspired by real-life. IMHO fictionalized writing is completely different from nonfiction.

P.S. I agree self-publishing nonfiction is an excellent idea, however.