What does "self-publishing" mean?

The publishing of books and other media by the authors or creators of those works, rather than by established, third-party publishers.

What is a synonym for "self-publishing"?

Common synonyms include: self-pub, selfpub.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The publishing of books and other media by the authors or creators of those works, rather than by established, third-party publishers. uncountable

Verb

1
present participle and gerund of self-publish form-of, gerund, participle, present

"Self-publishing is much easier now in the age of the Web."

From self- + publishing.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.