Well, I can tell you that I have had rejection after rejection from agents on a 58,000 YA novel I wrote, and I realize I am probably just going to have to bite the bullet and self-publish.

However, I don't necessarily see me having much chance of making money on my own. The key goal, the way I see it, should be to either interest a company in optioning movie rights to it (and presume the movie will never be made, of course; the idea would be to get a nice chunk of option money such that a good ROI on the book could be generated) or interest a publisher in taking the book on.

So, while I definitely would put my book up for sale, I would assume no one would buy it. But, what if I, in the interest of creating awareness, gave the book away? What if I advertised the book in a couple high-profile venues (like a Hollywood Reporter classified ad, that kind of thing), invited people to download the book for free, and perhaps ask for a tip/donation if a reader felt so inclined? Is anyone else thinking along these lines? So far as I can tell, others have used this model.