With Amazon offering the ability to self-publish to Kindle and crowdfunding enabling folks to put together the funds even for physical books, self-publishing has exploded. Not everyone can get an agent to go through the traditional process and it isn't always due to lack of talent - there are some gems in the self-published world.

My question: have you discovered any? Which ones would you recommend and why? Where do you discover them and how do you navigate a space that doesn't have the marketing/hype machines of traditional publishing?