What is an Indie Author?

I hear the term all the time but the question remains, “What is an indie author?” Thus, I set out to find an answer.

I first sought to discover the meaning of this word, “indie”. Perhaps from that I would further understand how this label would belong to an author.

“Indie” is a shortened form of “independent” and has nothing to do with Indiana Jones. Disappointment².

“Indie” is a word you will find in common use in music and films, although I’m more familiar with the term “independent film” than “indie films”.

An author who is independent?

Hmm... Definition time!

Independent (adjective)

1. one whose opinion is uninfluenced by another
2. not dependent on another’s support

Sounds like a powerful and snazzy way to describe oneself.

Those of us who are of an artistic and romantic nature will perk up at such a thing. Films made from pocket, low-budget but enlightening. Music going against the grain, finding kin to connect with.

Appealing as it sounded, I still wasn’t sure how the term applied to authors.

So I kept looking and finally I came to a conclusion as to what an indie author is...or at least how the term is most often used in today’s market.

An indie author is a self-published author: someone who takes the plunge to publish their work on their own, whether through a website designed for the purpose or self-printing and distribution.

What is self-publishing?

It’s when instead of going the route of getting an agent and a publisher, you take the decision to publish your own work. You control all the decisions on how your book is presented and marketed to potential readers.

These days, anyone can self-publish. However, if anyone can do something, it becomes far less extraordinary, doesn’t it? Well, anyone can self-publish but whether everyone should is an entirely different matter.

Regardless of whether you would read a book that you knew to be “self-published”, you have to admit that “indie” has a much nicer ring to it.

To me, whether or not a book is self-published or traditionally published is irrelevant if the book is good. I always say, ‘A good book is a good book is a good book’ and not all self-published books are going to be good. In fact, a lot of them won’t be.

Thinking back to the romanticism of indie music and independent films, I believe that a spectacular read that has been self-published would be an exciting discovery. Even more so because there are so many novels – self-published and otherwise – that are far from compelling.

I’m not sure I would go out of my way to read a book just because it was labeled “indie”, although I believe there is a growing support for self-published authors these days. Authors self-publish because they have not been able or inclined to obtain a literary agent and a publishing contract.

Some Most books aren’t taken on by agents and publishers because they are not up to the written quality that they are looking for. It cannot be denied that a few of these books are just not seen as marketable and thus their chance to be published slips away in the absence of belonging to a current trend.

What is an indie author? Well, I’m still not 100% sure.

There is a definite affiliation with self-publishing the way I hear it told but when it comes to the broader sense of “indie publishing”, an indie or “independent publisher” seems to be synonymous with a small or niche press, something very different from self-publishing.

I wonder... Are those that call themselves “indie authors” in fact indie at all? It’s an interesting, albeit confusing, thought.

For now, I think that I’ll just stick with affiliating “Indie” with Professor Jones.

What is your definition of an indie author and “Indie Publishing”?