Sometimes I wonder what exactly to say to someone who decides to self-publish. There are a hundred different reasons to choose any given publisher and there are benefits and drawbacks to each decision.
For self-publishing, the onus of the work rests solely with the author. This includes writing, editing, marketing, selling, and probably a few other things I can’t think of off the top of my head. It sometimes gets a bad rap, too, because anyone can do it.
They dont actually have to do editing, of course. A person could choose to pen fifteen pages of an endless litany of “I will not smash cars” and self-publish it. Not that anyone would buy it or be extremely happy about receiving a copy, but it could be done.
I’d like to meet someone who could market that, though. I bet I could learn a lot! In the meantime, I’m in search of a word that isn’t congratulations (from dictionary.com “an expression of joy in the success or good fortune of another”) and means more of a “good luck on your endeavor.” I’ll reserve the congratulations until it’s a successful venture.
All of us need the luck, no matter what publishing route we take. We work to achieve any published status and we earn our laurels based on factors not always under our control.
Ransom Noble 
I had been in talks with a company I used to subcontract for about putting out a book of the stuff I built for them. It would have been self published by them and written by me. Most of the stuff I built could be done by a competent nine year old with a table saw and a drill. We didn’t go through with the project because the company decided to go in a different direction but i still think it would have sold at the industry shows they went to.
Holly Jahangiri and I self-published Hidden Lies and Other Stories (in fact it was the first book under the 4RV label), but it had been edited and edited and edited forever by us and by others. Each story in the book had been edited numerous times by others as well as ourselves. Then the book was edited by others as well as ourselves (and we’re both professional editors).
The problem with self-publishing is many “authors” don’t get competent editing, and one editor isn’t enough because another will catch problems the first doesn’t. The writers aren’t willing to go through the proofing and revising process that is necessary for a quality book.
I’ve had people want me to review books that are so poorly written (most self-published) that I can’t give them a review they would like.