Self Published Authors

In the last six months I have been approached by three self published authors. Two had written children's books and one had written a young adult novel. I have read all the books and for the sake of this blog, I will currently leave my opinions to myself on the matter. I may come back and speak them later. For now though, what are your opinions? Do you think self publishing is the way to go? I wonder what authors that are published think about this. Publishers? I can't wait to hear what other people think.