There is a view – admittedly not as prolific as it once was – that independent publishing is also ‘vanity’ publishing; writers who self-publish couldn’t get published in the traditional way and so turn to self-publishing as a vain option to get their work out there in any way that they can.

I think this is wrong. Independent publishing isn’t vanity publishing at all. OK, so it might be slightly vain, but all publishing is slightly vain. Independent or traditional, it involves writers deciding that they want to publish their books and have people read them. It means that the writer has to be vain enough to think that the book is worth reading in the first place, and to think that people might want to read it.

That isn’t unique to independent publishing.

Plus, independent publishing is hard work. If publishing a book was merely an exercise in vanity, I doubt so many self-publishers would work so hard to make what they do a success. It isn’t an easy option. It involves skill and time and effort, often without reward. This isn’t a matter of vanity: it’s a vocation.

It also adds variety to the range of books that are out there for people to read. In a way, we could argue that traditional publishing is far more vain about things; far more choosy about what it puts out there and allows to be published in the first place – its vanity causing it to steer away from books that could well go on to be very popular, if they were ever give a chance. Self-publishing doesn’t do that; anything can be published, and is.

It gives people more choice, and it is an increasingly important, profitable and respectable part of the industry. Maybe independent publishing was once something of a vanity option for authors, but no longer. Now, it’s part of the mainstream.