Paperback · photograph
by Serwaa Ohene · 212 pages · epub + pdf · January 2026
A handbook for independent publishing in the platform era. On pricing, reach, the tyranny of the feed, and the art of staying small on purpose — for writers, developers, and designers who want to ship the work without becoming the platform's product.
The dilemma in the title is not new. Makers have always had to decide how close to stand to the people who distribute their work. What is new is the shape of the distributor — the feed, the algorithm, the platform that promises reach in exchange for a share of your attention, your pricing, and, eventually, your voice.
This book is an attempt to help you stand at a useful distance from all that. Not a sermon about leaving the platforms — most of us cannot, and should not. A practical handbook about keeping enough of yourself out of reach that the work stays yours.
I have been running a small press for eight years. I have broken every rule in this book at least once and regretted most of them. I have also kept a few, consistently, and those are the ones I want to pass on.
Exactly what was on the tin. No upsells, no tier gates, no "contact us for pricing" once I was in. Shipped in an afternoon and the docs were readable by a human.
I've bought half the catalogue at this point. The voice is consistent, the prices are honest, and the updates actually land. It's what indie shipping should look like.
Did what the page said it would do. Knocked off half a star because I wish there was a Windows native build — I'm on WSL and it works but feels like a workaround. Support replied to me in four hours.
I bought it at 11pm, downloaded it at 11:01pm, had it running at midnight. That's the whole review. Email went to a person who answered the next morning.
The amount of thought in the copy alone makes this worth the price. And that's before you get to the actual product. Rare to see this level of care at indie prices.
Swapped out my previous tool for this one last sprint. Fewer features, honestly — but the ones that are here are the ones I actually use. Don't miss the rest.