Indie Publishing
Forget the term self publishing, bands have been called indie and recording on indie labels for decades, so independent authors should proudly tell others when they indie publish.
What is Indie Publishing?
Independent publishing is writing, producing, printing, marketing, selling, and promoting your own written work.
I refuse to call indie publishing "self-publishing" because the term is still derogatory to some - and it’s not true.
The term sprang from the days when traditional publishing had such a hold on the marketplace that anyone publishing their own work was considered vain and egotistical.
Publishing a book yourself is no different than starting your own indie music label.
The rise of Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, and other print-on-demand services changed the book industry, as did global indie bestsellers like Fifty Shades of Gray.
J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, indie publishes all her e-books.
When you indie publish, you're not doing it yourself. You work with editors, beta readers, writing groups, book cover designers, reviewers, and others. You're releasing your book independent of a large press, but you're not doing it alone. So the term “self publishing” is incorrect anyway.
Publishing yourself is becoming big business, which could lead to the corporatization of the indie publishing process, but that's for another time.
And no matter what happens in the indie world, the author always has the choice to pay for added services or put a book out as is and not worry about promotion or marketing.
Why Indie Publish?
So many people wrote during covid that agents and publishers are still overwhelmed with all types of submissions.
In addition, traditional publishing companies are going out of business or consolidating, executives and agents are leaving in droves, and the entire industry is in disarray.
That means it's taking longer for writers to hear back from agents and longer for agents to get a response from publishers. There's also a higher probability of having your book rejected because so many books are considered.
What's the alternative that's becoming more popular every day? Publishing a book yourself.
Pros to indie publishing:
You keep total control of your work. Many traditional publishers will not let authors contribute to the book cover or marketing.
A traditionally published book can take one to two years - or longer! - to get published. An indie book can come out in less time, within weeks or months.
Your book doesn't get old. You can continue to market it indefinitely.
There's a higher royalty rate if you sell directly, but not necessarily if you distribute outside the print-on-demand company you used.
Writers signed to a Big 5 are often unceremoniously dropped from the roster. You can't get dropped if you're indie.
Cons of indie publishing:
If you've never published before, you have a learning curve. It can be stressful because you must learn a lot.
If you don't like marketing, you might find the process painful. I love creative marketing, but even I find it overwhelming at times.
There's no advance, and you have to pay for everything.
You will have to spend time on the business side of books, which could take away from your writing.
It's not easy to get your book sold in bookstores.
Indie publishers are not eligible for some prizes. I've heard from several authors, though, that awards are only to boost one's ego and more and more are beginning to accept indie books. Book sales don't increase with awards, except for the few top prestigious ones.
Publishing stress is real
Truth be told, there's a certain amount of stress getting your book out to the public, no matter which route you take. With traditional publishing, you query agents, and if you're like most people, you get many rejections. This can take many months, if not years.
After you find an agent, the agent will most likely make suggestions and have you edit or rewrite parts of your book. Some writers don't agree with the agent's edits and have to decide how to proceed, which could come down to doing what the agent asks or finding another agent. That could start the rejection process all over again.
Once the agent is satisfied with your book, it gets shopped to publishers. This can take many, many months - and another round of rejections.
It could take a year or two to get the book accepted by a publisher and then another year or two for the publisher to get it out to the public. And the publisher might want even more edits to the book.
Authors who are traditionally published are often surprised when the company releases their book, but all additional marketing is left to the writer.
With indie publishing, you don't have the stress of agent and publisher rejections, but you must learn the ins and outs of publishing.
There's book cover design, editing, formatting the book for print, figuring out the best way to market it, and more. It can quickly get overwhelming.
There are marketing services you can purchase like virtual book tour companies and various types of consultants who can help you with your target audience, social media, sales - and on and on. You have to make a lot of decisions.
In conclusion
You might want to write a book and not worry about it after publishing, so you can work on writing the next one. You also might not care about how long it might take to get your work out to the public. If that's the case, traditional publishing might be for you.
If you're someone who’d feel more respected with a traditional publisher's name in your book, then definitely go to one of the Big 5 houses.
You might want someone to handle the business and production end, though you might also want to have a say in what happens with your book. If that's the case, you might want to look into a small press.
I love the whole process of creation - from writing books to releasing and promoting them.
I want to know the process, and I want complete control over the various aspects of production like book cover design and marketing.
I also don't want to wait years for my book to come out, so indie publishing is definitely for me.
Whatever you do, remember to congratulate yourself on being a writer. According to a 2021 study, 55% of Americans say they have a good idea for a book, yet only 8% finish a novel. So keep writing!
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This article originally appeared August 2022.
Since I started down this road, I've loved the terms "indie author" and "indie publisher" because while I'm not part of a major publisher, I do rely on other independent craftspeople for help with editing and other publishing needs. None of us can do this alone, but we have to own the responsibility of making all of the creative and business decisions to move forward!
It takes a village to birth a book! Thank you Diane for the much necessary reframe in a world where being proud of your work and wanting to show it off has become something frowned upon.