Independent Publishing, often called Indie Publishing, is not the same as self-publishing. Although both give the author the freedom to put a book out into the world without having to ask or wait for permission, the difference is how it is accomplished.
In today’s publishing landscape, many authors are choosing either self publishing or independent publishing as an alternative to the traditional route to retain creative control of their work, shorten timelines to publication, and to get their work out into the world the way they want it.
Self-publishing simply means an author publishes their own book without going through a traditional publishing house. The author typically manages everything themselves—editing, cover design, formatting, distribution, and marketing. Platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark have made this process accessible to anyone willing to learn the steps.
From the Office of an Independent Publisher
Independent publishing, such as Distant Shining Moon Productions, is an individual imprint that uses a collaborative approach. Simliar to self-publishing the author does not go through a traditional publishing but instead of doing everything alone, the creator acts as the publisher and builds a small team of professionals—editors, cover designers, formatters, and marketers—to produce a high-quality book. The author retains ownership of the intellectual property while still achieving the production standards of a traditional publisher.
Creating an independent publishing business offers freedom, creative control, and faster timelines (once that book is written) with quality for their readers in mind. Traditional publishing often takes years from manuscript to bookstore shelves and can be shutdown anywhere in the process. Traditional publishing also means giving up significant control over the end product and less opportunity to engage the reader in the creative process, while giving up a huge chunk of the royalities.
Although, traditional publishing offers new authors greater reach (initially) and proven in-house marketing strategies they lose control over the timeline and end product packaging (like titles, cover style, etc). In contrast, indie authors can publish when they choose, maintain their vision for their book, and keep a larger share of the profits.
Because they have a created a team around their book, they maintain both the professional quality, often even better than traditional publishing, and creative control. They own the rights to their work from the start, their business, and maintain a closer and more collaborative relationship with their readers.