There is a huge amount of debate on the internet as to the correct definition to apply to each route to market in the book trade. We see the two main routes to market as (1) "traditional" or "commercial" publishing and (2) publishing a book yourself (whether that is called independent, self or vanity publishing is open for debate). We've opted for the terminology "independent" or "indie" publishing for the latter only because we think it sounds nicer and it is a bit easier to market someone as an indie-author rather than a self-published author. Of course this is also different from an Independent Publisher which we take to be a traditional or commercial publisher which is independently owned. So, those are our thoughts, which hopefully won't cause too much debate in the blogging community!

With Independent Publishing you are effectively becoming your own publisher. Think of it as a business - you will need to invest in the editing, copy-editing, printing, cover design and marketing with the aim of making money back through sales that you will need to drive yourself. All of these services can be sourced independently or can be obtained from a good author services company like Floreat Books (yes, we know, a shameless plug...). You need to set your budget, work out if you'll generate sufficient royalties, drive sales and distribution and be responsible for the creative and commercial success of your book. Or, if commercial success is not your aim, you can simply get your book in print for your friends and family.

Independent Publishing has been made viable through print on demand. Whereas previously publishers and authors had to invest large sums of money to fund a ‘print run’ of X number of books (the result being pressure to sell that amount before another print run will or will not be funded). Instead, with print on demand, as one book is ordered, one book is immediately printed, packaged and distributed – all done in seconds! Print on demand simply makes paperback and hardback publishing available on a small run basis.

If you choose to take out one of our Independent Publishing services we'll handle the layout, cover, ISBN are all organised for you. Once your book is set up on the print on demand systems, we'llregister the details of your book with the leading global book distributors – people like Bertrams, Ingrams etc. These are the distributors that the likes of Waterstones and Amazon order from. In practice this means that your book will be distributed online by the likes of Amazon and people will be able to pop into their local bookstore and order a copy. Note it doesn't guarantee that your book will be on the shelves of bookstores (see further below).

What’s really clever about print on demand is that there are different printing sites around the world which the digital copy of your book can be sent to. This means that wherever a person lives in the world, when they order a copy of your book, the order systems will automatically work out which printer is nearer to them and use that site to print your book.

For example, Anna lives in Oxford, UK. She orders one copy of your book for herself and a second copy for her aunt, who lives in New York. The first copy is printed and shipped out of the UK, the second is printed at the same time but in the USA and is posted to Anna’s aunt from there.

Juan, on the other hand, lives in Brazil. He orders a copy of your book from Amazon. It is printed that day in the US and sent to him by post.

Every time it automatically selects the quickest and cheapest route for the buyer, no matter where in the world they live.

Usually, once a book is ordered - from us, by a purchaser online or in a bookstore - the books are printed and dispatched within five business days and then it is sent for shipping. The time taken for delivery obviously will depend on where it’s going. Having said that, we know authors who have ordered books and received them two days later.

As mentioned above, a bookstore will be able to stock your book and it will usually be available on their online store. However whether your local branch will have a copy of your book on their shelves will depend on their purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, bookstores may not like your book as much you do so it is impossible to predict or guarantee the decision of a bookstore to stock your book. There are things you can do to increase the chances of your book being stocked by high street bookshops like Waterstones - for example you can have one of our Publicists help you.

Physical distribution and sales promotions are aspects where Independent Publishing cannot compete with Traditional Publishing. There is more about this on the Routes to Market Compared page but essentially while indie-publishing does give you a foot in the market it is up to you, the author, to drive sales of your book.

With our Independent Publishing services, you keep 100% of your royalties and you can set how much your royalty amount will be. For more information on royalties, please click here.

Indeed you will. With our Independent Publishing services, we don't take any ‘rights’ in your book in order to exploit those rights’ as a traditional publisher would. For more information on copryright, please click here.

Yes, absolutely. There’s nothing that would make us happier than if you took our one of our Independent Publishing services and the next thing you know, Penguin are knocking on your door asking to offer you a traditional publishing deal. Because you retain 100% of the rights in your book at all times you can take those rights where you like.