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My feeling is that it doesn't really mean anything to have self-published. If I had less shame I could have five or six books out there now (I have seven complete bad novels from nine years of Nanowrimo.)
It is an achievement to be published, simply because it's not easy, and many fail. if you're starting with a finished manuscript, then clearly it is hardest to get it published with a BPH, slightly easier to get a small press or to be accepted by an agent, and almost impossible to fail to self-publish.
That completely misses the point of whether you're able to get any success out of it. If you're making a living from fiction, then I'm going to want to hear how you did it. If you have a single fan, or if your sales are a least covering your costs, then I reckon that's an overall victory.
There might be the assumption that you pitched it high, and settled for self-publishing, in which case, yes, that does seem kind of like a failure, but I think it's increasingly true that people just aren't going into the traditional process. I dont think I'm patient enough, now I've decided to try to publish one of my novels. I'd be looking at about 2014 if I went through the system. I could publish it myself this weekend if I thought it was ready.
There is no lower bar in self-publishing. In itself, it means little, but if you have succeeded at it, I don't quite see the difference.
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