Leg Up Book Editing

Self publishing and independent publishing are very similar, but they are distinctly different, but first let's take a step back and remember what traditional publishing is.

Traditional Publishing

The process starts with an author writing and sending a manuscript or idea to literary agents. An agent who likes the manuscript or idea then submits it to a publishing house and the editor at the publishing house decides if they want to publish it or not (Union Square Publishing).

In traditional publishing, the publisher has all the rights to the book, makes all final decisions about the book, and pays to produce the book (Infinity Publishing).

Traditional publishing is pretty easy. The process hasn't changed much over time and most people understand it.

So how are self publishing and independent publishing different?

Simply put, self publishing is the author doing everything to create and market their book completely on their own, and independent publishing is when an author works with a small publishing house to publish their book.

Self Publishing

Honestly, there isn't much more to the definition of self publishing: the author does everything. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean the author literally does everything, but the author is in charge of everything.

A self published author will hire their own editor(s), cover designer, formatter, and maybe even marketer to help them create the best book they can.

Of course, since the author is in complete control, the author keeps all the rights to the book.

Independent Publishing

Independent publishing is sometimes called hybrid publishing because it takes some of the best aspects of traditional and self publishing and puts them together (Hoover).

An independent publisher is a publisher not connected to the Big Five publishing houses - Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and HarperCollins (Barron).

Like traditional publishing, manuscripts and ideas are submitted to independent publishing houses to be accepted or rejected, but most of the time an author can do this without a literary agent.

Independent publishers offer support to the author for all stages of the publishing process (Grace). This includes editing, cover design, formatting, and marketing.

The author is still largely in control when working with an independent publisher, and just like with self publishing, the author will keep all the rights to the book and have a say in all final decisions about the book.

Some people define self publishing and independent publishing slightly differently, but these are the basics of their similarities and differences. Both industries are constantly changing in our fast-paced world, so the definitions of the terms are also changing.

I think as self publishing grows bigger there may be a shift in the definitions of self publishing and independent publishing that fits better with the idea of an independent author. For now though, we are in a time where if you research too much, or think too hard about all these terms, you just end up confused.

Author vs. Publisher

Knowing the difference between self publishing and independent publishing only brings one more question to mind: Are self published authors independent authors?

The answer simply is yes.

That's because writing a book and publishing a book are two different jobs.

An author may be an independent author, but their book may be self published. The author is independent of anyone telling them what to do with their book and is in complete control of bringing their book to life. The act of creating the book, or publishing, is self publishing by the independent author.

"Indie author refers to someone who choses not to use a traditional publishing path, but independent publisher can also refer to an independent publisher who's not part of the big four or big five."

- Ogorek, 3:29-3:42

Summary

In conclusion, self publishing is when the author takes on all the jobs of writing, editing, designing, and publishing, and independent publishing is when an author uses the support of a small publishing house to publish their book.

The key difference is in who publishes (or pays for the creation of) the book, and publishing is a very different job from being an author. As more and more people are being able to do both jobs, it has been forgotten that they are separate jobs.