I want to know that when @TreySmith made his game the kolo's journey and jump pack did he used any publisher or started publishing on his own by using paid aquistance as I am also not sure what should i do.
Right now Trey Smith publish his games with Ketchapp , so i think having a publisher for your game this days is the way to go , although you can do your own marketing if you ware willing to spend some money
also , if you are making a game or already made a game , i advice you to send it first to publishers , just look at color switch and other games featured by apple , most of them are published under a Publisher voila : a great thread with a good list of publishers : https://www.buildbox.com/forum/index.php?threads/publishers-what-options-do-we-boxers-have.966/
