Indie Publishing:
How to Design and Produce Your Own Book
Ellen Lupton

Once referred to derisively as "vanity publishing," self-published books are finally taking their place alongside more accepted indie categories such as music, film, and theater. Indie Publishing is a practical guide to creating and distributing printed books regardless of your background, skill set, or ambition. It will help you realize projects of every scale and budget, from the traditional bookmaking techniques used to create zines to the more ambitious industrial production methods required to produce hardcover books in large quantity.

Indie Publishing's special focus on the visual design of books makes it unique among publish-it-yourself manuals. Readers are taken step-by-step through the process of designing a book to give it personal style as well as visual coherence and authority. Design principles such as scale, cropping, pacing, and typography are explored in relation to each example, along with commentary on how to create effective title pages, tables of contents, captions, and more. Indie Publishing aims to inspire readers with examples of print projects similar to those they might undertake on their own. Sample designs include a picture book, artist's portfolio, exhibition catalog, poetry chapbook, novel, and zine. Indie Publishing addresses the important business aspects of independent publishing—from how and why you should get an isbn number to creating promotional materials and using the Internet to market your book. This comprehensive, illustrated guide concludes with a curated portfolio of the most exciting examples of independent publishing from the contemporary scene, reproduced in full color. If you have content to share and you want to give it a fresh and orderly form, this book will kick-start your project and keep you motivated until the ink dries. Indie Publishing is the eighth title in our best-selling Design Briefs series, which has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide.


Ellen Lupton is a writer, curator, and graphic designer. She is director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. She is the author of numerous books, including Thinking with Type (2004), D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself (2006), and Graphic Design: The New Basics (with Jennifer Cole Phillips, 2008).
add to cart

Editorial Reviews

For Your Bookshelf, How Magazine:
"An insightful guide on how to design and distribute your self-published book." (April, 2009)

Foam Magazine:
"If it is true what insiders claim, that public interest is shifting away from the mass media to independent and small productions, then this book is both a good start and a helpful guide for artists who are producing their own books. Developed by a team of students and professors, it gives readers both confiedence and an overview of small publishing houses and artist books. It also explains necessities such as ISBNs and marketing in the book trade and describes in short steps the use of InDesign and how to create hand-crafted artist books. And since this book itself originated from a workshop on book design, every page is a pleasure to behold, and excellent visual solutions are found for all type of difficulties. In recent years, niche products, at least the trust of buyers and now command more on bookshop shelves. More and more, the independent nature of publications is inversely proportionate to the size of the publishing house." (Winter 2009)

Curled Up With A Book:
"So youve dreamed of creating your own novel/poetry book/portfolio/picture book/zine but havent got a clue where to start? Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book, edited by Ellen Lupton and published by Princeton Architectural Press, might be a good first step. The inspiring do-it-yourself guide walks you through the bookmaking basics, demystifying the process and providing practical guidance on everything from visual design to printing to marketing." (February 10, 2009)

Harry Allen Radio (WBAI):
"The do-it-yourself movement in arts and craftsaccelerated by the wide availability of sophisticated digital technology, as well as access to information, and people, through the internet is creating a boon in one very key area: Self-publishing." — Harry Allen (April 24th, 2009)

MICA Hosts AIGA Conference, Maryland Institute College of Art Newsletter:
"Lupton, a 2007 recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal, also directs MICAs Center for Design Thinking, for which faculty and students collaborate on publications that educate the broader community about design issues and practices. The Centers newest publication, Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book, will be released this month by MICA and Princeton Architectural Press. It was written and designed by GDMFA students and faculty." (September, 2008)

Buds Art Books:
"Brilliantly designed and written with an encouraging tone, this also ventures into the world of handmade book arts with concise instructions on how to print and bind your own book. From font choices to binding to distribution, this leaves no question unanswered."

Photo-Eye Magazine:
"(Indie Publishing) has already proven to be wildly popular indeed, it's already in its second printing, the first sold out almost immediately upon release. Lupton has been the Director of the MFA Graphic Design program at Maryland Institute of College of Art since 1997 and is the author and/or editor of a multitude of books published by P.A.Press: The ABCs of Triangle Square Circle: The Bauhaus and Design Theory, D.I.Y. Design it Yourself, and Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors & Students. With these books, she's proved to be expert at crafting accessible titles about design and now, with the help of a few contributors, independent publishing." — Melanie Mcwhorter (March, 2009)

Kottke.org:
"Someday I'm going to make my own book, from start to finish. It's something that I've wanted to do for awhile, a physical parallel to building a web site from scratch. When I do, Ellen Lupton's Indie Publishing will be my guide. At 170-some pages it's not exhaustive, but the book does briefly touch all the bases: typography, cover design, binding types, and examples of several different types of books. There's also a section on handmade books with hands-on directions for making your own book -- folded books, stitched pamphlets, or stab bound -- without having to visit the printer." — Jason Kottke (October 20, 2008)

Good Reads:
"One of my favorite type of books are books about ...Books. This is sort of a manual in how to make and design and produce your own books. It is cleverly designed, and full of good details for the upcoming punk publisher." — Tosh (March, 2009)

How Magazine :
"An insightful guide on how to design and distribute your self-published book." (April, 2009)

Reader Comments

Be the first to add your comments about this book!