Self-Publishing Statistics: Women fare better than men at making money from self-publishing (via ePublish a Book)
The recently published Taleist survey of self-published writers gives a fascinating insight in the brave new world of self-publishing. Based on a panel of 1007 self-published respondents, the survey clearly shows that not everyone is equal when it comes to self-publishing. Of these respondents,…
8 comments:
I think 9% is a huge number for people making a living. I would guess it's much higher than those making a living from writing for trade publishing companies.
The percentage also seems high, since I am guessing most of the respondents probably don't write more than one or two books, and aren't trying to be full-time authors.
Great posting, Katherine. I think this proves the point that success in fiction always comes down to the STORY.
Peace, Seeley
Good for the women! Based on this article, it seems that quantity, as in books, is better than hype, as in marketing. Interesting. I better dust off the old typewriter and get cranking.
I'm amazed that only a quarter didn't recoup their investment (of course, I'm sure the time investment is not counted in that). It may not be a get rich quick scheme, but the odds of at least moderate success seem far higher than in the traditional publishing world.
I'd be interested to see what percentage of authors overall are women, to put the statistics in perspective. It's my impression (but with nothing to back it up) that the majority of authors are women. It may be that the odds for an individual author are the same regardless of gender.
Thanks to all for your comments. I know two of the participants in the survey, both women. One was not making a living with her writing at the time of the survey but now she's in the 6-figure range. The other was making a living with her writing over a year ago. I know several self-published authors and for those who first published with a publishing house, they are doing much better on their own. As a self-published author, I wouldn't do it any other way.
It seems fairly straightforward to me. My gender notwithstanding.
Women make up the majority of readers. Not surprisingly, other women write what interests them. Thus, the gender surprise isn't.
As to the number earning at living at this, I would guess that if you included all true costs, it's more on an order of couple of percent, if that. Unless one believes that earning $10 or $15K is a living. I think a teen at McDees earns more than that.
Just saying.
Really great data, Katherine. Thanks for sharing this. (and apologies for being late to the conversation) I attended the Digital Book World Conference in NYC in Jan. We rec'd mounds of data, but not this. The take-away from DBW: hybrid authors actually fare better than solely self-published or solely trad'lly published authors.
Appreciative,
Jeffrey
Jeffrey, it is excellent data. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Is there anything special you learned at the conference that you'd like to share?
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