Why do people say self publishing isn't as good as publishing a book with a company?

[AmazingKiller830]

Why isn't it?

[pearl]

Because he costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote a book so that people will buy it.

[Phantomnest528]

Self-publishers will take anything that a writer pays to print. With a traditional publisher, they only publish works with a very high quality of writing and storytelling; that standard does not exist for self-published works and a self-published work does not need to be edited, reviewed, or even completed or factual to be accepted by a self-publisher.

Self-publishers will not help you sell your book--they've already made their money from printing the books. It is completely up to the writer to market, advertise, and sell their book. Many bookstores will not stock self-published books, as per the first point, there is no guarantee of story or writing quality from self-published works.

[Rockin]

companys are much more professional and make the most money to give to you.
would you buy a book of someone who doesent know what their doing or of someine who has had years of experience???
companys also promote you.
Also just think the fame you could get by comapanys

[sensualgruv]

Most companies that help an author self-publish charge the author. In some cases it can be a costly endeavor. They offer packages for editing although sometimes it is still a poor job, there is very little quality control. These books cannot be sold in physical bookstores because the ISBN assigned registered it as self published and most bookstores don't carry them and so the numbers do not appear in their system.
Because of the cost of the publishing package being so costly the cost to recoup your losses raises the cost of your book. Most people are not interested in paying $15 to $25 dollars for a substandard book.

Some of those worries are becoming less of a problem. Some companies now offer print on demand and don't require the author to order any. Other also offer on line point of sale which means they can get an electronic copy of your book. And many of the copies are now associated with larger trusted companies such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Avon books and Harlequin. In these cases you are treated like you are with a traditional publisher having more reliable information at your fingertips.

[old lady]

There's nothing wrong with publishing the book yourself, but everything wrong with trying to sell the book yourself. Most bookstores will not handle self-published books. So you have to find a way to let readers know about your book. That means advertising, and advertising is expensive. Even if you do it online, you still have to mail out the books to people who purchase them - and mailing is not inexpensive. In the long run, you are better off with a publishing company.
The only other option is ebook publishing - and you can self publish an ebook, but there again, the problem is with marketing. How do you let the reading public know about your book? You can tag all your facebook and twitter contacts, but as the returns on an ebook are very low, they aren't going to add up to very substantial amounts.