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Is Indie publishing still worth doing?

Posted on 5th November, 2025

I was considered a successful indie publisher five years ago earning around 40K a year and writing about 5 to 6 books. Then I was invited to join Head of Zeus – Aria – and my focus turned to traditional publishing but I still continued to write a couple of Regencies alongside my WW2 book for Aria. Then I was invited to move to Boldwood in 2021 and and have almost forty books with them. I’m now in the enviable position of earning six figures a year.
A friend, also a Boldwood success, and I decided we would set up a writing collective and publish the books that Boldwood didn’t want. We got together and spent a day working out the mechanics but are now having second thoughts. I do know one phenomenally successful indie writer but she writes for the American market and is absolutely brilliant at her job. However, I also know of three indie writers who have just joined Boldwood so can only presume they weren’t doing as well as I thought.
I have a romantasy series and a new Regency series and my friend has a Celtic series and a fantasy series that we were intending to publish. If we decide to start indie publishing next year we will need good covers, marketing, advertising, extra pages on our respective websites, and copyediting and proofreading. All these things if they are done properly are expensive and we are now wondering if the time and money would be worth it in the current climate.
I would be really interested to hear from any indie publishers about the state of the market. Neither my friend nor I need the money, we just want to do something different, something for ourselves, but equally it makes no sense to invest heavily in both time and money if we are not going to be able to sell any books in the current climate.
Until next time
Fenella J Miller