Indie Press Network launches to connect small indie publishers

The Indie Press Network has launched with the aim of connecting independent publishers with each other, as well as with booksellers and readers.

The open network will offer promotion opportunities for established presses’ titles and authors, as well as free, open-access resources for those starting out.

The Indie Press Network was founded by Will Dady of Renard Press, and is launching with an inaugural cohort of 10 member presses. It is open to all small publishers with five or fewer employees and aims to encourage and support new "would-be" publishers.

According to Renard Press, the network seeks to build on the work being done by other membership organisations to "decolonise publishing and to raise the profile of smaller presses who don’t have big marketing budgets".

Through its free, open-access Indie Press Network Guide, the Network aims to offer an introduction to the industry and the answers to common start-up questions. The collective expertise of the member presses is available for publishers to read.

Dead Ink in Liverpool, Eglantyne Books, époque press and Fly on the Wall Press are members, alongside Guppy Books, Héloïse Press and Istros Books, as well as Ortac Press, Prototype and Renard Press. Prospective members are encouraged to to get in touch via the network’s website and all that match the criteria are welcome.

The news comes just months after seven UK publishers formed the Small Press Alliance (SPA) to provide support in a “quickly changing market”. The SPA launched in April 2023, with members including Canbury Press, Fairlight Books, Jacaranda Books and Legend Times, as well as Muswell Press, Orenda Books and Wild Things Publishing.

"That there are more and more alliances and networks promoting co-operation and support for small presses can only be a good thing, and as they all work in slightly different ways and have diverse focuses they can complement one another and become even more effective," Dady told The Bookseller. "We’re proud members of the Independent Publishers Guild (IPG) and Publishers Association (PA), both of which are fearless cheerleaders for the industry, on a much bigger scale than small-press publishing, and are valuable support networks."

He added: "The Indie Press Network is designed to work alongside these other alliances and networks (indeed, several of the inaugural cohort are members of the Northern Fiction Alliance as well as the IPG, the PA etc), and seeks to provide an extra level of support specifically for smaller small presses (aimed at start-ups and those with five or fewer employees). It does not have its sights on going so far as sharing sales and distribution, as per the Independent Alliance, and is not limited to a geographical area, seeking instead to unite small teams in Leith with one-man bands in Leicester (or, as in our case, small teams in London)."