mattlynn: You are correct. Today the market is a lot different than before. But at the same time our world is far more interconnected. So ignoring the social media and self promotion aspects is death to an author, regardless if they're with a big house, or self published. Authors aren't seen as being incredible people propped up on gilded pedestals anymore. People see them as average joes with a rather exceptional talent. So they're no longer "unreachable" like they used to be, thus you as the author are expected to come down to the readers level and interact directly with them. Trust me, I've been trying to beat that fact into a lot of new author's heads, but not enough seem to be getting the picture.
As for me, I'm finding that 3rd party marketing seems to work better for me, as I'm not the hands on marketing type. Probably because I've had issues with social interaction for years. Being a geeky introvert it makes reaching out to potential readers rather difficult for someone like myself.