"Indie" is not a Genre

 
Sure, Hollywood marketing and PR would like you to think "indie film" is a specific genre, but it's just not true. Most often, the only common factor between two indie films is the size of the budget (or the lack of one).
 
I love indie film. Even the really ridiculous indie efforts, like "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter" (available on Netflix; if you like bad movies, you'll love this one).
 
A lot of indie film is horror of some sort, because it used to be a great way to get a film noticed and launch a career (or two). Ask Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell (I love the "Evil Dead" movies too).
 
Kevin Smith's indie effort, "Clerks", was a subversive masterpiece that managed to be modern, edgy and not horror.
 
There is nothing in common between "Evil Dead" and "Clerks".
 
In the realm of books, "indie" is even more meaningless–though there do seem to be a lot of fantasy and vampire books released by indies. Browse the authors at a place like KindleBoards and you see: science fiction, romance, paranormal romance, horror, vampires (of course), and fantasy (duh), just to name a few.
 
"Indie" is a distribution method. Not a sub-category of fiction (or anything else).
 
-David