In an article at CNN.com titled "If it's cool, creative, and different, it's indie," journalist Catherine Andrews wrote:
"The term 'indie' traditionally refers to independent art -- music, film, literature or anything that fits under the broad banner of culture -- created outside of the mainstream and without corporate financing."
Although many independent book publishing companies are incorporated, they are independent of the major conglomerates that dominate the book publishing industry. Independent book publishers include small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.
Like other independent artists, many indie book publishers face challenges that the industry giants don't experience. We typically have to work a lot harder to get our books into retail stores (or our authors onto Oprah) and ultimately into the hands of readers. As Chris Anderson reports in his bestselling business book The Long Tail:
"More than 99 percent of music albums on the market today are not available in Wal-Mart. ... Same for any other leading retailer and practically any other commodity [including] books... The vast majority of products are not available at a store near you."
Yet independent book publishing is thriving in spite of the challenges. The publishing industry's Books in Print directory lists 3.5 million books in print, including many from independent publishers.
According to Bowker's Books in Print database, more than one million new titles were projected to be published in 2009. Of these, 764,448 were "non-traditionally" published books, including print-on-demand and self-published titles.