£1000 is a serious amount of cash. If you are really hell-bent on self publishing, then you'd be better off going to a proper, reputable, lithographic printers and tell them you want a long print run. £1000 might get you 700 books, unlike 100 books from a POD printer.
However, the biggest drawback about self publishing is putting something out that isn't as good as it could be, or something you might regret at a later date. The second is distribution. Many POD books simply don't sell, not only because of price but because you can't get them to the public. Having them on Amazon isn't enough, besides the fact that many POD book incur a £1.99 finding fee from Amazon which puts any potential buyer off.
If agents aren't taking the work, that in itself is a fair indication that it's either not ready, or won't sell (depending on how many agents you sent it to. I used to send in bulk, doing 12 agents at a time, and then receiving 12 rejections in a week!
) This is a hard pill to swallow, but if you really want to make it, it's worth perservering with.
£1000 is a LOT of money. If you have it spare, you would be far better investing in an editorial service such as Cornerstones, or even a private, freelance editor.
But before considering that, upload something here (again!) and see if it can be polished before submitting it to an editor.
Generally speaking, POD really is vanity publishing, because it's only purpose is to make the author feel better for having a "real" book out there. The chances of it leading to a serious book deal are very, very slim. Whereas, the chances of getting a book deal by investing in editors and putting a couple of years work in, are substantially higher.
(ps - I used to slag off editorial services!)
Colin M