"My original plan was to self-publish this book and put it up for sale - at a purely nominal price of course (ahem) - and maybe make a few pounds from the thing but there's a part of me that finds this idea just wrong"

There is nothing wrong with making a few pounds from such an interesting story. I'm sure there is more people around like me who actually find a pity not being able to easily purchase a physical copy of this book. I actually find quite convenient to pay for not having to print it ( I mean book printing ) myself. And I actually love to have physical books too, specially this sort of books :)