What Does It Mean To Be An Indie Author?

If you want to publish a book, you’ve probably heard the term indie author thrown around a lot. But do you know what it means?

There are essentially two tracks to publishing a book: traditional and independent (there is another track called Hybrid, but we’ll focus on the differences between the main two).

A traditionally published book is a book published by a publishing house. To go the traditional track, authors find representation from an agent who takes their book to the publishing houses and tries to sell it. If a publishing house buys the book, it will undergo the publishing process through that publishing house. The author usually receives some sort of advance, and in most cases, that publishing company maintains the rights of first refusal on the next book by that author.

For a long time, the traditional publishing path was seen as the only path to publication. This is no longer the case. Independent publishing (or self-publishing) has been on the rise for many years. It used to be assumed that if an author self-published their book, it was because the book was poor quality and not worthy of being published by a publishing house. This is, of course, not true. Authors who choose to publish independently are making the conscious decision to self-publish.

So, what are the benefits of self-publishing that would make an author choose this path over traditional publishing?

When a traditionally published author signs that book deal and gets that advance, they are selling their book. This means the publishing house is buying the rights to the book, and the author no longer owns it. For some, giving up these rights is not worth traditionally publishing the book. Independent authors maintain all the rights to their books.

It’s true that the traditionally published author gets a big check when they sell their book to the publishing house, but this check is called an advance for a reason. The publishing house will not pay the author again until the profits from the sale of the book exceed the amount the author was paid in advance. Once (if) this amount is reached, the author will begin to receive royalties. The royalties the author receives will be a fraction of what the publishing house keeps (such is business).

A self-published author receives no money upfront when they publish their book. However, they begin earning royalties right away. Because they don’t have to share with anyone else, they earn 100% of the royalties.

When the traditionally published author sells their book to the publishing house, the publishing house makes all the decisions regarding the book, including the cover design, necessary edits, and potential rewrites. The publishing house may require the author to change something as significant as the way the book ends completely in order to complete publication.

The indie author makes all the decisions regarding their book from start to finish. They decide what the cover looks like, how it ends, what edits are made, and what suggestions are ignored.

Are you thinking that independent publishing sounds pretty great? It’s true, you have full control over everything! So what’s the problem? Well, you have full control over everything.

That means you wear all the hats when it comes to your book. You have to be the author, the editorial team, the head of marketing, the director of sales, the distributor, everything.

Unless you hire help, you will be the one responsible for selling your book in order to get paid that royalty. This is not an impossible task. Many independent authors successfully sell their books through social media, live events, and their websites. It’s even possible to get your books into bookstores as an independent author. It just takes work.

On the other hand, traditionally published authors will have assistance with these aspects. That does not mean that they can just sit back and do nothing. Most new authors are not going to get the support from traditional publishing houses that Stephen King gets. You’ll likely still have to put some work in on the marketing and advertising front. The difference? You’ll have support.

So which path is better?

The honest truth is it’s totally up to you. You need to weigh the pros and cons of each path and decide which direction makes the most sense for you as an author.