Independently Published is the imprint name Amazon KDP gives self-published print-on-demand books using its free ISBN. It is not a publishing house and has no first edition conventions.
"Independently Published" is not a publishing house. It is the imprint name Amazon shows on print books that self-publishing authors release through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) using the free ISBN that KDP offers. An author who buys their own ISBN can put their own publishing name in the imprint field instead.
KDP opened in November 2007, at the same time as the first Kindle reader, and was at first called the Digital Text Platform. A paperback option followed in 2016 and a case-laminated hardback in 2021. Both formats are print on demand: a copy is made when a customer orders it rather than taken from a printed stock, so authors pay for no print run.
The free ISBN is tied to KDP and cannot be taken to another printer, so books under this label are produced and sold through Amazon's own system. The name therefore covers a huge, unrelated mix of authors and subjects, with no editorial list, no house style and no owner beyond the individual authors.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Independently Published's practice for the year on your title page.
2010s to 2020s - This is a self-publishing label, not a publisher with a first edition practice. "Independently published" only tells you the author used the free ISBN that KDP supplies for paperbacks and hardbacks. - Copies are printed on demand when ordered, so there are no print runs and the usual first edition signs (a "First Edition" statement, a number row, a first-issue jacket price) do not
We track 381 editions published by Independently Published, 372 of them first editions, across 381 books.
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 21 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
