There is something in the air in the self-publishing world at the moment; just ask the Alliance of Independent Authors’ (ALLi) co-founder and director Orna Ross, who has watched the sector develop over the past decade and a half. Though she still does not see traditional and self-publishing as “sitting together that much”, she believes “it’s a hugely exciting time to be an indie author”.
Former Harper Press managing director John Bond (pictured), turned CEO and co-founder of Whitefox – which launched in 2012, offering a “curated network of publishing specialists” to companies and individuals, many of whom are self-publishers – agrees.
He says: “There’s still a bit of a stigma around self-publishing, but it’s changed, because more people want to have creative control of their own books. They want to do things in a time frame that suits them, rather than hope that they will find an agent, and that the agent finds a publisher, and at some point, in the future, that book is published. New writers are saying: ‘I can do something relatively quickly and learn how to be an entrepreneurial, self-starting author.’”
This is what Monique Charlesworth, who founded Moth Books in order to publish her own (and now others’) books, wanted to do with its launch title, her book Mother Country: “I published four titles traditionally, and I worked with marvellous people, but they didn’t care like I did about the cover, about the quotes. They weren’t necessarily great at communication and publicity.”
There’s still a bit of a stigma around self-publishing, but it’s changed, because more people want to have creative control of their own books
Bond notes that Whitefox works with a number of previously traditionally published writers “who have come up with an idea for a book which doesn’t necessarily fit in with the sorts of books that the traditional publisher is publishing. But the creative drive and momentum to make that book available is huge. People still want to facilitate it, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that the publisher is wrong, because they’ve got their own strategy. But equally, it’s now possible to [self-publish] in a credible, professional, authoritative way. It’s not somehow a failure if you haven’t found a traditional publisher.”
For JD Kirk, the Scottish bestselling self-published author and winner of the 2024 Kindle Storyteller Award for his crime title Stateside, “there’s never been a better time to be a self-published author. Having spent more than 10 years writing for some of the biggest publishing companies in the world, I’ve never been as creatively or financially well off as I have been since falling into self-publishing my own work.
“And I’m not alone. Every day, more authors are realising that they can either hand over their books to a publisher to manage on their behalf, or they can take on that job themselves, shepherding their books on to potentially far greater success.” He describes the current moment as “a golden age of opportunity”.
Jen Barrett, Amazon Books UK Kindle Direct Publishing lead, agrees that “many indie authors view self-publishing as an empowering route” that “gives [them] freedom and agency”. She explains: “Readers tend not to differentiate between a traditionally published and indie published book – they just want to read something great, in their genre of choice. This is what is so creative and exciting about indie publishing.”
Barrett adds: “The growing rise of discoverability via social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram has played a huge role in indie authors building their brand and growing their profile.”
With all that said, many are also making the switch away from self-publishing; in the age of BookTok, a pipeline seems to be growing, with many SFF and romance writers in particular being lured over to traditional publishers, like now-Tor romantasy star Carissa Broadbent. And, even if they want to keep the digital rights, several successful self-publishers have inked physical book deals with traditional publishers in order to more easily get into bricks-and-mortar bookshops – not least Kirk himself, who struck an agreement with Canelo last year for the print rights of 20 titles in his DCI Logan series.
Hazel McBride (pictured) is one who crossed the aisle, with her A Fate Forged in Fire to be released in May by Dialogue imprint Renegade Books. She says: “I don’t know if I would necessarily say I was successful at self-publishing… if we look simply at the bottom line – I barely broke even on costs to publish versus profits made from sales – it was a struggle, but that wasn’t what drove me to pursue traditional representation.”
In fact, she “needed help. Self-publishing requires so much: knowledge of how to market your book, connections with designers, hiring freelance editors, an understanding of how to typeset, navigating budgets, running your own business. Self-publishing requires an author to be a jack-of-all-trades, and I am self-aware enough to know my own limitations.”
Moreover, “some prejudices still exist”, she says: “The quality of some self-published books might not be as high as others and, when you are in direct competition with traditionally published books, readers will naturally make comparisons. This disparity is often because the author cannot afford things like a second copy edit. [And] with a tendency to view self-publishing as a ‘last resort’, most people don’t realise that the majority of indie authors are now self-publishing without ever querying their manuscript in the first place.”
She continues: “In recent years we have seen the rise of ‘indie turned trad’ authors, who have had huge success with their self-published books, and a publisher has been quick to capitalise on that. Blurring the lines further between the two routes of publishing are ‘hybrid’ deals, where some authors remain self-published, but sell audio or foreign rights in order to help them reach more readers. For authors who wish to keep creative control but have a wider reach, this can be a good way to balance the pros and cons.”
Renegade editor Alexa Allen-Batifoulier (who acquired McBride’s book for the publisher) believes that “in the past, traditional and self-publishing operated largely independent of one another, each existing in its own sphere”, but in recent years, “their relationship has evolved into something more complementary”, partly attributing this “huge shift” to the likes of Kindle Unlimited, which enables authors to “test the waters and gauge reader reactions, growing their readership without the immediate pressures of traditional publishing constraints”.
What is happening now, though, she says, is many authors leveraging “their self-publishing success as a stepping stone into the traditional publishing world. By the time they approach a traditional publisher, or vice versa, these authors often come armed with market knowledge, a solid readership, and a proven ability to generate sales – assets that publishers are notoriously keen to build on”.
Allen-Batifoulier also believes that the stigma around self-publishing has moved on, and the sector in general can be seen as beneficial to the entire trade: “Self-publishing has propelled diversity within the industry and provided a platform for voices that were often overlooked by the gatekeepers of traditional publishing…[Ultimately] authors are no longer strictly choosing one route or the other – they’re exploring both, and in increasingly innovative ways.”
