Something interesting is happening in the indie publishing world, publishers are not just going it alone anymore. Many are banding together in collectives and co-ops to share resources, cut costs, and support each other’s missions. It’s less about competition and more about strength in numbers.
One example is Stable Book Group, a partnership between Ulysses Press, She Writes Press, Trafalgar Square Books, and VeloPress, along with a couple of smaller collaborators. Their goal? To pool operations like production and royalties while boosting everyone’s marketing power by combining catalogs. Ulysses CEO Keith Riegert compared it to building an investment portfolio, diverse, efficient, and stronger together.
Another growing network is the Publishers Cooperative, which launched earlier this year and already has nine members, including Gibbs-Smith, Mango Publishing, and Red Wheel/Weiser. By acting as one large unit, members can negotiate better printing deals, shipping rates, and even software licensing. Basically, they get the perks of being a big publisher while staying independent.
Not all collectives are built for scale, though. In California, Thinking Ink Press is run by four equal partners who share decisions, direction, and profits. Their focus is publishing inclusive stories for queer, neurodivergent, and disabled readers. Thanks to a nonprofit sponsorship, they’re also able to apply for grants that help fund their mission.
Some groups are less about business efficiency and more about championing bold, boundary-pushing literature. Fiction Collective Two (FC2), for instance, has been publishing experimental fiction since the ’70s. Run by authors, it operates as a nonprofit and keeps every book in print indefinitely. They’d rather nurture writing with long-term cultural impact than chase quick commercial wins.
You will also find collectives like Ugly Duckling Presse in Brooklyn, which started as a zine in the ’90s and now publishes poetry, translations, and experimental works, or City Works Press in San Diego, which focuses on regional voices and community storytelling. Both rely on small teams and creative funding but are proof that passion-driven publishing can endure.
And then there’s AK Press, a worker-run collective with no bosses and no hierarchy. Founded in 1990, they’ve built a reputation for radical and political titles, plus speculative fiction. Every member pitches in across different roles, from acquisitions to distribution, and they even partner with other small presses to get more books into readers’ hands.
All of this points to a bigger trend: indie publishers are realizing they don’t need to follow the traditional path to succeed. By joining forces, whether for financial strength, artistic freedom, or inclusivity, they’re proving there’s more than one way to thrive in publishing.