Lynn,
I know someone who recently self-published his book through Authorhouse. One of the writer's in my group did a book review on the book for the newspaper. This person paid $5300 for 4 books and a few doo-dads. No editing or marketing, as you know. His book is in a local bookstore here, but I'm sure that was his doing. He's a prominent figure here. From what I've been reading on the forums and what I've heard from a few people I know who did this, it sounds like a big rip-off to me. What are they getting paid to actually do?
Louisa