I've considered self-publishing myself. I lean towards it for the same reasons you do, though in my country it's somewhat easy for young authors to get published. I'd have to think about it, though. Even if I don't plan on living off my earnings as a writer, I don't know if I would like the lack of control over my stuff in a publisher's setting. But then again, I don't know how much I'd like dealing with everything myself.

Fortunately, my novel is nowhere near ready, so I'll have plenty of time to decide! *grins*

Thank you for this, it was a very interesting read!