Indie Publishing versus Self Publishing, see the difference
Book publishing entails converting a manuscript into a complete book published for readers’ consumption. To publish hard copies, this process goes through the editorial, typesetting, design, illustration and printing stages while for ebooks, printing is excluded in the process. Book publishing consists of turning the final draft of a manuscript into something that readers can find and read. Though the book industry may not be as economically viable as other media industries especially radio, television, and newspaper industries, its intellectual impact in the society is huge. In respect of culture for instance, the book industry is highly impactful.
Indie Publishing
An indie author is a writer who publishes their work without the help of an established press. Indie authors are also called self-publishing author. These kinds of authors are responsible for editing, producing, distributing, and marketing the books they write. The concept “indie” is a short way of referring to “independent” authors. Many self-publishing authors prefer being referred to as indie authors because the word “indie” does not carry a stigma but “self-publishing” comes with an impression of low quality work that did not pass through professional publishers. When you refer to somebody as self-publishing author, this gives off a stigma but when you call the same person an indie author it sounds more prestigious and acceptable.
Also, the term, “self-publishing” is a misleading term. This is because almost every author who successfully publishes their own books does not do it alone. Indie authors can use the help of online marketplaces to conveniently hire copy editors, proofreaders, and designers to work on their book. By taking this collaborative approach, the production process in indie publishing has become closer to that of traditional publishing than ever before.
Indie authorship has increased in popularity and online publishing platforms have made this easier. You find many people preferring to answer indie authors today because it sounds cool. Also indie authorship is rising because traditional publishing is still conservative and expensive. The process of accepting manuscript is very rigorous and sometimes with little success for smaller authors. So they prefer publishing their works by themselves. Also, indie authors make much money too, especially if their books become successful in the market.
Self Publishing
Self-publishing is a publishing approach where authors involve themselves in the production of their works. They do not involve established publishers. You publish your book under your own name or an imprint name. In self publishing, the author is involved in designing, preparing, printing, and promoting a book. Even where experts are involved in the design and other aspects of publishing, the author directly hires and supervises their works. This is also a major kind of publishing in the book industry. It might be cost effective but it is always better to involve established publishing houses in getting a book published based on the professionalism such companies bring to the table. They also undertake the risk in terms of cost of production.
Writers have been self-publishing since the advent of the written word. Some authors start off their careers by self-publishing. They begin with a small press to publish their work and that of other writers. There used to be a stigma associated with self-publishing but that has lessened in recent years especially with the impact of technology on the book industry. The emergence of the internet, blogging services and POD (print-on-demand) technology, the proliferation of self-publishing platforms (such as Lulu.com and CreateSpace), the rise of crowd funding platforms (such as IndieGoGo), the growth in e-book sales, and the success stories of a number of high profile, self-published authors (such as Amanda Hocking) has meant that self-publishing is now firmly established as an important part of contemporary publishing. Most of self-publishing done today is through e-books. Self-publishing is gradually becoming a strong part of mainstream publishing, especially as it has to do with ebooks. For instance, Amazon launched a literary prize – The Kindle Storyteller Prize – for self-published e-books, which further integrates self-publishing into the publishing mainstream (Smith & Bold, 2018). This is a viable publishing option an upcoming author could consider, instead of letting your manuscript die because established publishing houses did not accept it.
