There are more indie authors hitting the publishing scene than ever before—but why, and what does it mean for the future of publishing? Digital technology is opening doors for indie authors, but there are a lot of difficulties awaiting people considering self-publishing.
Our research project, Community Publishing in Regional Australia, has spent the last two years investigating how books are produced outside of Sydney and Melbourne—and therefore outside of the Big Five publishing houses based there. We have collected data from the AustLit database and interviewed authors based in regional Australia about their diverse publishing experiences. One of the things the data reveals is that there are scores of thriving indie authors all over the country.
Kathleen Ryder, one of our interviewees from Mparntwe / Alice Springs, is a prolific indie romance author with over twenty self-published books. She writes what she likes to read and about the experiences she wants to have. Kathleen started her writing career in 2018, when she wrote Fling with a Flying Doctor, a rural romance taking place in Alice Springs. She described it as a fairly spontaneous decision, saying, “I quit my job, I homeschooled my son, and then on a whim I wrote a 55,000-word novel in a couple of weeks.”
Once she had her manuscript, she had to decide what to do with it. At first, like many aspiring authors, she considered taking it to a traditional publisher. But she quickly decided that wasn’t the right choice for her. She said, “I wrote it. I found an editor, I found a book cover designer. I had it formatted. I did all of that on my own…so why then should I give half of my money to other people?”
She isn’t alone in that opinion. For many aspiring authors, self-publishing is becoming Plan A. There are a lot of reasons for this, but a big one is dissatisfaction with traditional publishing and its many gatekeepers. The publishing industry can come across as exclusionary and difficult to navigate—especially for members of marginalised groups, who have long been under represented and underpaid by traditional publishers. There is also the fact that a lot of the time, as Kathleen put it,
If you publish traditionally, you still have to have strong social media, you have to plug your own book, you have to do the signings. You have to do everything that an indie author does only you get paid less. I was like, no way sister.
In light of all this, authors are deciding to go indie so they can have full creative control of the publishing process and can reap the benefits of a higher profit margin. Some surveys are showing that indie authors are actually making more on average than traditionally published authors.
But with full control comes the burden of full responsibility. There’s no guarantee of return on investment, and there are a lot of costs to consider, especially if you outsource certain tasks to freelancers as many indie authors do: editing, proofreading, cover design, an ISBN, printing and distribution to name a few. It can be a lot to manage, especially for a first-time self-publisher trying to figure out where to start—and what mistakes to avoid.
Self-publishing requires a degree of tech savviness. The surge in success of indie authors can largely be credited to digital technologies, such as self-publishing platforms like IngramSpark and Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). These platforms democratise publishing by making entry into the industry more widely accessible. There are also print-on-demand services, how-to guides, social media, and countless other digital resources that support indie authors. Having all of this at our fingertips is amazing, but learning how to find and effectively use these resources is its own obstacle.
Kathleen explained that the early days of her writing career involved a lot of trial and error, trying to find the best way to start what was essentially a small business from scratch. She googled how to use draft to digital, how to get herself on platforms like KPD and Google Books, and how to work with IngramSpark. She had to build a marketing strategy and a pricing guide. Kathleen also described building a website, a satisfying but frustrating process involving endless hours of coding and a fair amount of cursing.
Online spaces are also great for networking, especially for regional authors who might not have local opportunities. Romance writers are well known for maintaining extensive networks and a dedicated fandom, so Kathleen was able to join numerous Facebook Groups. She mentioned the Romance Café as a one she’d had good experiences with.
But there can be a dark side to these online communities as well. Kathleen mentioned that “there are some very unfortunate people on Facebook who do prey on indie authors.” One scam she had come across was people selling book covers made with images under copywrite, opening up unsuspecting indie authors to legal consequences. There is unfortunately a great deal of scammers who prey on indie authors by taking advantage of gaps in their knowledge. As Kathleen said, “people don’t realise because they don’t research this stuff.”
One of the hardest hurdles to overcome for aspiring self-publishers is knowing what you don’t know—how can you research something when you don’t even know it exists? Kathleen is a pro now, but she admitted that she would have appreciated more comprehensive information about how to self-publish when she was starting out, especially Australia specific information, saying, “If I had something that had all these answers in the one book, it would’ve been amazing.”
A core aim of our research group is to provide resources for regional authors, and one of the ways the group has approached that is by putting together a DIY Publishing Toolkit. It sets out to guide aspiring authors down the best possible publishing pathway for them. The Toolkit was written by four highly experienced academics from the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland, and it’s full of all the tips and tricks you need. It also has loads of real-life examples from regional creatives encountered during field work in Mparntwe / Alice Springs; Willyama / Broken Hill; Winton, on the lands of the Koa people; and Ayr, on Bindal country.
The toolkit will be available to freely download from our Linktree on the 23rd of June. One of the researchers on the team, Professor Kim Wilkins, will also be presenting the toolkit at the Outback Writers Festival, which runs in Winton from the 24th to the 26th of June.
The rise in success of indie authors isn’t going to stop anytime soon. As technology advances self-publishing will only become more popular. The evidence all seems to suggest indie authors will have a big part to play in the future of publishing. So, whether you’re an aspiring writer, someone already in the industry, or just an avid reader—it’s time to pay more attention to self-publishing.
By Roseleigh Priest, Research Assistant, Community Publishing in Regional Australia
Community Publishing in Regional Australia is researching how regional Australians are using digital technology to publish and distribute books. If you’re interested in learning more, subscribe to our Substack or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.