If, like me, you're an #indieauthor, you'll be interested to know how the publishing industry and readers generally, are reacting to us. This article includes data from several current sources. The good news? Self-publishing is on the increase and generating more income than our colleagues in the traditional market (on average).
Quoted widely, the report from The Alliance of Independent Authors, accrues data from a range of sources to compile its findings. Here's a bullet pointed summary:
Average incomes of self-published authors are rising. There was a 53% increase from 2022. The average that year for #indieauthors was US$12,749. The average for authors with third-party publishers was US$8,600.
Younger authors are making self-publishing their first choice: ‘Less than half of authors under 45 years old would prefer to have their next book traditionally published.’ (Source: Author’s Guild, 2023)
Self-published authors make up over 50% of Kindle’s Top 400 Books for 2023 (Source: K-Lytics, 2024)
More than 2,000 self-published authors have surpassed $100,000 in royalties. (Source: Amazon, 2022)
Self-publishing has a reverse gender pay gap, LGBTQIA+ authors earn more than heterosexuals.
Gen Z maintains strong and regular reading habits with nearly 40% reading daily or a few days each week, and 55% still reading once a week or more. 79% say they are looking for better diversity in the stories they read. ‘More than four out of five (83%) Gen Z readers (aged 18 - 25) (are) turning to online sources like webnovels, e-books, and webcomics for diverse stories.’ (Source: Wattpad, 2023)
Research from Nielsen BookData highlights that it is print books that Gen Z favour, accounting for 80% of purchases from November 2021 to 2022. Libraries are also reporting an uptick in Gen Z users who favour their quiet over noisy coffee shops. In the UK in-person visits are up 71%.’ (Source: Guardian, 9th Feb 2024)
Success for #indieauthors, according to Written Word Media, meant generating a minimum of EIGHT books before you could begin to see success. Their December 2023 survey showed these authors spent an average of 15 hours per week writing. 27% sold their books from their own websites, the rest from BookFunnel (40%), Shopify (25%), PayHip and WooCommerce (20%).
Kingston University surveyed 800 self-published authors, they were asked if they would recommend the experience to other writers. 86% said they would, 14% said maybe and under 1% said no. 58% said they liked retaining control over their material, 50% wanted higher royalties and 42% had chosen self-publishing after hearing good things about it
#IndieAuthors have increased their use of Kindle Unlimited. Whilst Amazon has reduced the payments, the use has doubled from KU's introduction in 2014 (ten years ago). Alex Newton, from K-Lytics, found that KU drives the sales of eBooks quite considerably. In terms of genres on KU, the most popular is Romance (58%), followed by Suspense/Crime/Thriller (16%). Speculative fiction only accrued 1%.
The best markets, according to Draft2Digital, are USA (58%), Canada (9%), Australia (7%), Germany (6%) and Great Britain (5%)
Kindlepreneur surveyed 876 authors who were selling direct and found that 40% had only been doing so for under a year. 1-2 years = 22%, 3-4 years = 14% and over 5 years = 22%. Two factors emerged from this survey: 44% had written 10+ books (and therefore had a body of work that readers could engage in) and the successful author had an email reader list of 15,000+ which generated over $6,000 in revenue
Successful self-published authors don’t have ‘agreeable’ personalities! (Source: Kingston University, 2023)
According to Bookstats, which collects online sales data in real time from Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble across the print book, e-book, and digital audiobook formats, self-published authors captured 51% of overall e-book unit sales last year and more than 34% of e-book retail revenue, compared to 31% in 2021. Those numbers translate into e-book sales of $874 million in 2022 for self-published authors.
Three "takeaways" from this data:
You only have to look at the breadth and diversity of speculative fiction to see the impact of self-publishing. Its characters, settings, themes and topic are significantly wider than (say) fifteen years ago, thanks to the work of neurodiverse and LGBTQ+ authors. Self-publishing brings freedom and readers now look to this market to provide it. (It might be argued the traditional market is so risk-averse, unwilling to challenge certain cultures, they still do not engage).
The self-published author must be an entrepreneur. Apart from needing a creative mind, they need a business head. It means curating and analysing sales data to identify commercial strategies. It involves exploring a range of marketing options - and not being afraid to promote their work. Not always easy for those authors who see themselves as introverts.
To achieve success as a self-published author takes time. This data suggests an author needs a solid body of work (between 8 - 10 books) before they can consider themselves established. I've read the same from authors who fit this category. It takes years. Success is unlikely to happen overnight so be patient.
I hope you find these post helpful. If you share it, please credit me. To respond you can find me on Threads https://www.threads.net/@philparkerfantasyauthor or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/philparkerfantasywriter or on Twitter https://x.com/PhilSpeculates
Phil Parker is a fantasy author. Click on the image below to find out about his books.
