Hi Kirinak!
Well, I'm technically published. I revoked my novel from the virtual shelves a while ago to do a major revision because I felt I published prematurely, but I still did it!
I didn't go through all the channels, of course: I self-published. For an amateur author, I think self-publishing is a great way to get some work out there. It depends on your goals, though: if you just want to see your work in print and sell copies to dedicated fans of the genre, then self-publishing is perfect.
I used a website called
http://www.lulu.com, which is very robust. You get full control over the layout of your interior, your cover--everything. They use a print-on-demand service so you won't make a lot of money from sales, but they do offer to sell through some online booksellers as well as their own store. You might want to check it out.
If you do choose to self-publish, before you let a single copy be printed, make sure you have someone (other than yourself) read the whole work! It doesn't have to be a professional editor, just someone who will enjoy the story and can pay close attention to it. Sometimes what makes sense to you in your head doesn't translate well to paper. They can even catch slight continuity errors that you may have missed (which is what happened to me). Also, spelling and grammar errors are embarrassing, so best not to let anyone see them in an actual book, right?
So if money is not your primary concern, and you just want to get something out there for people to see and learn about you as an author, then self-publishing could be great for you.