January 21st, 2012 by Peter
When it comes to publishing, there are a lot of different titles and labels, and it can get confusing to understand what all of them mean. One of the labels you will hear the most – one of the most important ones to understand, and perhaps one of the most misunderstood – is independent publishing.
Before you can understand exactly what independent publishing is, you need to gain an understanding of the difference between traditional publishers and self-publishers. As you probably know (or can probably figure out!), self-publishing requires the writer to pay up-front fees in order for the book to be printed. Most self-publishers will allow anyone who has the money to publish their book, with no real barriers to entry at all. Traditional publishers, on the other hand, often pay an advance to the author up front, and they pay royalties to the author; these publishers do not, of course, require any up front payments from the author.
In traditional publishing, the names you will see the most often belong to the Big 6: Hachette, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Penguin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster. But there are also hundreds of other traditional publishers who are not under the umbrella of these six companies, and this is where things get tricky. A publisher is considered to be an independent publisher if they operate as a traditional publisher but do not operate under the umbrella of the Big 6. This means that they are not funded by the Big 6; it does not mean that they are funded by their writers! Over the last several years, however, many self-publishing houses have begun to call themselves “independent publishers,” even though they are truly self-publishers.
If you are a writer, and you are looking to have a book published, the best thing for you to do is research as much as possible! If you are not going with an agent, and with one of the Big 6, make sure that the publisher you are going with is truly an independent publishing house. The difference between independent publishing and self-publishing can be the difference between a good experience with wide distribution and a poor experience with limited distribution!
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