Seventeen years is a long time for any bootstrapped media outlet to continue to provide meaningful content, but we’ve done it. The Independent Publishing Magazine (“TIPM”) was one of the first online publications dedicated to providing indie authors industry news, information and reviews of service providers. A lot has changed in the book publishing industry since Mick Rooney started TIPM in 2007. Back then, independent authors were ignored by almost everyone in the publishing industry. There was a stigma about self-publishing created by traditional publishers and industry gatekeepers fearful of losing control. Turns out they had good reason to be afraid of what was about to come. One of the fastest growing areas of the publishing industry over the past 17 years has been self-publishing. Nearly three million books are self-published each year in the U.S. alone, up from well under one million, just five years ago and it continues to grow exponentially. Today almost 30% of all recorded book sales in the U.S. are from self-published authors, generating billions in sales.
I, too, was there back in 2007. It was the first full year that my self-publishing company was in existence. Back then, the ways that authors and indie publishers could publish and promote their books were limited. Twitter was only a year old and TikTok wouldn’t be launched for another nine years. Ebooks, too, were in their infancy with Kindle just launching.
Over the years, not only was TIPM a useful resource for me and my staff, but I became friends with Mick. He came to visit our offices in 2010 and I visited him when I was in Amsterdam in 2014.
In the summer of 2023, when Mick told me he was ready to move on from TIPM, I pitched him on the idea of me taking it over. The book publishing industry has given me much as an author and business owner, for which I am grateful. Acquiring TIPM was a no brainer. This is a publication that deserves to continue.
While I have a lot of plans for the direction of TIPM, initially, you’ll notice three:
Brand Refresh: We have updated the logo and are tweaking the name to IndependentPublishing.com because (a) it’s shorter and (b) it provides more flexibility for future growth. We intend to be more than just a magazine at some point. The URL itself won’t change for another 3-6 months as we have to make sure that search engines are cool with all of the other changes we are making first. In addition to running TIPM, I also am a domain name investor. I’ve owned IndependentPublishing.com for seven years and have always wanted to put that name to good use. Obviously, this is a perfect use.
New Contributors: Because of the audience TIPM already has, I reached out to several industry friends who I’ve worked with for years. I asked them if they’d each write a monthly column about any topics that matter to them related to the industry and publishing. I’m thrilled that they all said yes.
You will be too, when you read their contributions to TIPM. Our other contributors also include authors, university professors, and design experts. Our goal is to provide our readers with content that helps them better publish and promote their books. Check out contributors and if you or someone you know is interested in contributing to TIPM, please contact us.
Highlighting Successful Authors and Companies: One goal of TIPM is to help authors and publishers have more opportunities to get discovered. This goes for traditional publishers that are independent as well as self-published authors and the companies that provide services to them. We seek to highlight companies in the space that are doing innovative work and more importantly doing right by authors.
Thank you for reading these past 17 years. We are excited for the next 17.
1 The last recorded number of self-published titles with an ISBN for any year was 2018 with 1.7 MM per ProQuest Bowker Report (October 15, 2019). The number of titles published in the previous two years grew at about 500,000 per year (1.2 MM in 2017 and 800,000 in 2016). We assume that these numbers have continued to increase at the same rate. Additionally, one can publish on Amazon without an ISBN, so the numbers may be much larger. See also Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018 (publishersweekly.com)
2 https://selfpublishingadvice.org/facts-and-figures-about-self-publishing-the-impact-and-influence-of-indie-authors
