# Self-Publishing Survey - How are you faring self-publishing



## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I've created a super easy self-publishing survey, the results of which I'm using for a post (article) I'm writing on how self-published authors who aren't millionaires but make more than $500 a year, are faring. It should only take a couple of minutes (if that) to complete. All genres and all earning levels welcome. 

The link is below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GJD32G7

Thanks a bunch in advance!

Bev


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

An interesting survey and, as you said, quick and easy.


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## adegan (Apr 27, 2010)

That was depressing. It was very quick and easy though.

Will you be posting a link to the article containing the results on this thread when you're done?


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## Elliott Garber (Apr 8, 2013)

I'll just barely make the cut in 2013! 

Very interested to see the results.


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## Rufus Beerman (May 11, 2013)

My real job is doing survey analytics. If you need someone to do some data analysis when you close the survey out, let me know. I love that stuff!

EDIT: In case you need some credentials: I am in charge of survey analytics for a $5 billion company that consistently gets on the Forbes list of 100 best small businesses in America. I do pretty neat things with survey data.


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## Rachel Aukes (Oct 13, 2013)

Nice and clear survey.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Done. I wasn't able to leave comments until after I submitted the first time, though. Weird. Firefox.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks so much, everyone! Getting good responses. I added an additional comment section (my bad that I forgot that). I will have the results of the survey posted in the middle of January and I'll update this thread with the where. I've submitted the post idea to Huffington Post so let's see if they're interested.



Rufus Beerman said:


> My real job is doing survey analytics. If you need someone to do some data analysis when you close the survey out, let me know. I love that stuff!
> 
> EDIT: In case you need some credentials: I am in charge of survey analytics for a $5 billion company that consistently gets on the Forbes list of 100 best small businesses in America. I do pretty neat things with survey data.


Thank you for the offer. I just may take you up on it. Not kidding.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Done. Interested to see the results. Thanks for doing this!


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## Cheyanne (Jan 9, 2013)

I just completed it. I'm excited to see the results!


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Errrrr, sci-fi or fantasy are not categories in your world?


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## Carol Davis (Dec 9, 2013)

Done!

But... yeah.  You're missing a few important categories.  I added mine in the comments.


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2013)

Quiss said:


> Errrrr, sci-fi or fantasy are not categories in your world?


That's what I thought. And who qualifies as a professional cover designer? I'm sure many that call themselves that are also know their way around Photoshop, so I don't know what to put for that one.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Quiss said:


> Errrrr, sci-fi or fantasy are not categories in your world?


Yeah, really. Sheesh!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Quiss said:


> Errrrr, sci-fi or fantasy are not categories in your world?


An egregious error on my part. I am tabulating them in the "other" and will track the numbers for all the prominent categories I missed.


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## Zoe Cannon (Sep 2, 2012)

Yeah, I wasn't sure about the cover designer either. I do my own covers, but I've also done covers for books other than mine. I haven't gone to school for graphic design, but neither have some of the cover designers out there. I do digital art, but don't use it on my covers. So am I a "graphic artist" or just someone who knows my way around Photoshop?   I chose "no" just to be safe.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

I was afraid to ask if they were professionally done because I've found that some authors believe if they pay someone to do their cover, the designer must be a professional, which isn't always the case. Although, Zoe, you're covers are what I would consider "professionally" done.

Same with the editing. I'm finding that some people with no real editing experience are putting up a sign and doing freelance editing.



Zoe Cannon said:


> Yeah, I wasn't sure about the cover designer either. I do my own covers, but I've also done covers for books other than mine. I haven't gone to school for graphic design, but neither have some of the cover designers out there. I do digital art, but don't use it on my covers. So am I a "graphic artist" or just someone who knows my way around Photoshop?  I chose "no" just to be safe.


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

Done. Looking forward to the results.


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

Done.


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

Thanks for taking the trouble to do this, especially at this time of year. How you can find room in your head to even think about doing this stuff is beyond me!

Anyway, I've filled it in. Look forward to seeing the results.

Happy New Year!


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## Writer1000 (Jul 28, 2013)

Done. Look forward to seeing the results.


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## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

I can't believe "science fiction" is an other. 

Sharing the link to get as much participation as possible. I hope everyone else will as well.


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## zzzzzzz (Dec 6, 2011)

When will the othering end?


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## Judy Powell (Sep 25, 2011)

Done.  Very useful and timely.  Looking forward to your sharing the results.


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## KevinH (Jun 29, 2013)

Done.


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## Rufus Beerman (May 11, 2013)

romanceauthor said:


> Thank you for the offer. I just may take you up on it. Not kidding.


I may be able to do something with the "other" responses, too, eliminating the need to tabulate them manually.


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## Deena Ward (Jun 20, 2013)

That was easy. Done.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Oh good. I was just looking at all the Sci-Fi and Fantasy responses in "other" and berating myself again for not remembering to include them--and also adding more work to the analysis of it.



Rufus Beerman said:


> I may be able to do something with the "other" responses, too, eliminating the need to tabulate them manually.


The survey will stay up until Jan 11. I think that should give everyone who wants an opportunity to take it.


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## Zoe Cannon (Sep 2, 2012)

romanceauthor said:


> Although, Zoe, you're covers are what I would consider "professionally" done.


Thank you!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Right now the most surprising (but not really considering the respondents and where I found them) statistic is that over 51% of the respondents have made over $10,000 and over 33% have made over $25,000 a year self-publishing.


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## Rufus Beerman (May 11, 2013)

romanceauthor said:


> Right now the most surprising (but not really considering the respondents and where I found them) statistic is that over 51% of the respondents have made over $10,000 and over 33% have made over $25,000 a year self-publishing.


I'd be curious to see the breakdown for:
-those who hire an editor vs those who don't
-those who hire a cover designer vs those who don't
-those who hire BOTH vs those who don't hire any
-full-time vs part-time?
-and MANY others, including by genre, # of books out, etc.

I could write erotica about datasets.


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## Istvan Szabo Ifj. (Dec 13, 2013)

Done.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Rufus Beerman said:


> I could write erotica about datasets.


This made me LOL!


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## Chris P. O&#039;Grady (Oct 28, 2013)

Took the survey from a Prawn point of view! Its important to get some of that information in there too.


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## Evan of the R. (Oct 15, 2013)

romanceauthor said:


> This made me LOL!


Me, too.

And done.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Would it surprise many to learn the highest earners write romance?


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## Christy Dorrity (Mar 21, 2011)

Done.


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## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

Done.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks everyone! I never thought I would have so much fun analyzing these results.



Diana & Lacey said:


> Done. I'm very interested to see the results. Do you have any plans on when and where you might post results?


I will post the results with my write up on my blog mid-January. I'll close the survey January 11. I'll come back to this thread and post the link.


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## 48306 (Jul 6, 2011)

Done


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Done.

Other (contact with readers) = Mailing List


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## CelinaGrace (Nov 20, 2013)

Done. That was actually quite cheering when I realised how much I actually made last year (and it sounds even better converted to dollars!).


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Would love to find more respondents who have traditionally published and are currently self-publishing, or hybrid authors.  I'd like to have enough data to draw  a decent comparison. If anyone knows such authors, I'd appreciate it if you'd share this survey with them.


Thanks!


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## Rufus Beerman (May 11, 2013)

romanceauthor said:


> Would love to find more respondents who have traditionally published and are currently self-publishing, or hybrid authors. I'd like to have enough data to draw a decent comparison. If anyone knows such authors, I'd appreciate it if you'd share this survey with them.


I wonder if the title of the survey scared off any trad-published writers?


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Just did it.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Rufus Beerman said:


> I wonder if the title of the survey scared off any trad-published writers?


You think? If they're self-publishing I wouldn't think so. What I'm seeing is save 2 respondents, self-publishing is the better deal for all the former traditionally published authors.


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## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

Cool survey. Must be fun to analyse the results.

One thing lacking was the use of marketing, such as bookbub etc. That would be an interesting addition to a future survey. (Might even have to do one myself some time.)


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

I contributed. I'll be super interested in the results.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Great survey. Can't wait to see the results. Thank you!


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## Colin Taber (Apr 4, 2011)

Done.

Not just painless, but a minute or two of fun!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks everyone!  Hoping to hit at least 500 respondents by the time this is done (getting close).  

You won't be surprised to hear that the majority of the highest earners bestsellers belong to series and that permanent free books drive those sales or help out a lot. It does change a little bit when you get to those who earned more that $500k.  

Not a lot of authors earning a lot selling .99 books. $3.99 seems to be the effective price point here. Again, it does change some when you get to those who earned more than $500k. Interesting stuff.


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## meggjensen (Feb 17, 2011)

Done. Very interested to see the results. Thanks!


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## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

romanceauthor said:


> Not a lot of authors earning a lot selling .99 books. $3.99 seems to be the effective price point here. Again, it does change some when you get to those who earned more than $500k. Interesting stuff.


The responses could be a little misleading there. Your question was "My bestselling (earning) self-published books are priced at...", and I answered $4.00-$4.99. However, since I price by word count, that 40k $4.99 book may not make as much as the combined royalties of three 8k $0.99 books selling separately.


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## Bruce Rousseau (Mar 3, 2012)

Done.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

swolf said:


> The responses could be a little misleading there. Your question was "My bestselling (earning) self-published books are priced at...", and I answered $4.00-$4.99. However, since I price by word count, that 40k $4.99 book may not make as much as the combined royalties of three 8k $0.99 books selling separately.


That question allowed for more than one response. You could have selected both.


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## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

Did you get this thread opened back up at the ~other forum?


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

K.B. Nelson/Parker said:


> Did you get this thread opened back up at the ~other forum?


No. I literally only found out it had been closed 15 minutes ago. I don't know who the owner is or how to get in touch with her or him. I honestly thought the MOD would know whether it was permitted or not.


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## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

Yeah. That was... odd. McCallister Stone? She might be the owner. She's active on twitter.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Done


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## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

romanceauthor said:


> That question allowed for more than one response. You could have selected both.


Ah, I didn't notice that. Sorry.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

I've just added up my earnings properly and realise I underestimated them so I'm in the wrong category. Oh woe.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Lydniz said:


> I've just added up my earnings properly and realise I underestimated them so I'm in the wrong category. Oh woe.


Oh darn.


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## LilianaHart (Jun 20, 2011)

Done!


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## MarilynVix (Jun 19, 2013)

Done too. Looking forward to seeing what patterns the survey will reveal.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

LilianaHart said:


> Done!


Liliana, I have a feeling you just skewed the results. Thought the same thing when I say that Bob Mayer had taken it. 

But the news, IMO, is good. Self-published authors are faring waaaay better than I could have imagined.


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

romanceauthor said:


> No. I literally only found out it had been closed 15 minutes ago. I don't know who the owner is or how to get in touch with her or him. I honestly thought the MOD would know whether it was permitted or not.


Expecting things at the other forum to make sense? That way lies madness.

Honestly, I doubt you'll get much participation from anybody on that forum, anyway. Most of them are hostile to SP and have never tried it.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

MarilynVix said:


> Done too. Looking forward to seeing what patterns the survey will reveal.


After reading what my former publishing company's CEO (Steven Zacharius) said about self-publishing and constantly reading that most self-published authors didn't earn more than $500 a year, I thought I'd write a post. Then I decided I'd need data to back up what I was going to say. My focus is on self-published authors who seem to be fairly committed to making this work for them. Yes, there will be some skew. There will be a lot of fiction respondents and more romance respondents than probably some broader surveys but I think the results will still be very revealing.


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## Gina Black (Mar 15, 2011)

Done!


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

I know another forum I could post it that is much slower - but you might get 5 or 7 more hits out of it ... if you want?


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

I hope it's all right that I tweeted the link and suggested that authors take it. I should have asked first.  

But I have quite a few authors who follow me on twitter so it seemed like it might help.


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## CDChristian (Jun 4, 2010)

Took it! Also looking forward to the results.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

VydorScope said:


> I know another forum I could post it that is much slower - but you might get 5 or 7 more hits out of it ... if you want?


Absolutely. Thanks so much! The more the merrier. I'm getting really close to 500 respondents!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

I found this stat surprising and interesting:

70% of authors published with NY (traditional publisher) made over 10k
49% of authors never published made over 10k
32% of authors published with digital-only publisher made over 10k


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

Did you send this to the Selfpublish (Marie Force's list) and IndieRomanceInk loops? If not, I'll be happy to forward it there.

I'll also send it to my local chapter and to Teenlitauthors. Those aren't selfpublishing groups, but we have a number of authors who are self-publishing.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Amanda Brice said:


> Did you send this to the Selfpublish (Marie Force's list) and IndieRomanceInk loops? If not, I'll be happy to forward it there.
> 
> I'll also send it to my local chapter and to Teenlitauthors. Those aren't selfpublishing groups, but we have a number of authors who are self-publishing.


Amanda, that would be awesome. Thanks!


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## Kitty French (Dec 3, 2012)

Done. Interesting!


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## pwtucker (Feb 12, 2011)

Done!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

If you responded and have a story about how self-publishing has changed your life or career that you wouldn't mind sharing, please DM me. I would be using your name, what you write and your earning range--if you want to be more specific, that's good too.  And this doesn't mean you have to be earning at the top end.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Yay! My goal was to get 500 respondents I just passed that. Thanks so much for your input and a special thanks to all those who shared with your fellow authors. You guys are great!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

The survey closes January 11, but so far I have 684 respondents. I was hoping to hit 500 so I'm thrilled with the response to the survey. 

Here are some interesting (but not surprising) results that I'm seeing:

___

Of the authors who made over $50,000 in 2013, 96.93% of their bestselling books were part of a series or serial. 

100% for those who made over $500,000

Of those, 68% made one or more books in the series free

88.24% of those who made over $500,000 made one or more of their books free 
___

Of respondents who earned over $50,000 in 2013

33.53% priced their bestselling books $2.99
41.32% priced their bestselling books at $3.99
25.15% priced their bestselling books at $4.99

Of respondents who earned $0 - $10,000 in 2013

16.37% priced their bestselling books $.99
5.06% priced their bestselling books $1.99
47.92% priced their bestselling books $2.99
23.21% priced their bestselling books $3.99
8.63% priced their bestselling books $4.99
___

Of the respondents who earned $0 - $10,000 in 2013

32.53% have made one or more in their series free
41.87% have not made any books in their series free
25.60% have not written a series


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

romanceauthor said:


> The survey closes January 11, but so far I have 684 respondents. I was hoping to hit 500 so I'm thrilled with the response to the survey.
> 
> Here are some interesting (but not surprising) results that I'm seeing:
> 
> ...


This is pretty wonderful data. Would love to see the raw stuff for myself [former data-monkey here], but I'll be very pleased to see what information you pull together.


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2014)

So I'd say people in that bottom demographic (like me) probably don't have a lot of series.  Maybe they have one book or are working on a series.  Maybe they don't want to make Book 1 free until they have 3 books.

Of course, there are probably lots like me that have a few series and one free but still just aren't making that much.  I think $0 to $10,000 might be too big a category.

It's that 88% vs. 32% free that stands out to me.  Although we may see a big shift in that this year, perhaps with that 88% getting lower while the 32% gets higher.


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## rjspears (Sep 25, 2011)

I just finished my contribution to your survey.  Thanks for doing this.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Greg Strandberg said:


> Of course, there are probably lots like me that have a few series and one free but still just aren't making that much. I think $0 to $10,000 might be too big a category.


I thought about spliting up this category but I thought that anything above $10,000 was significant enough money to effect an overall household income giving the median household income in this country. To me, this was the minimum amount that would constitute decent part-time income.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

ゴジラ said:


> What % of authors have fallen into each of your income categories so far?


So far...

49.93% - $0 - $10,000
16.67% - $10,000 - $25,000
9.26% - $25,001 - $50,000
6.45% - $50,001 - $75,000
3.93% - $75,001 - $100,000
7.15% - $100,001 - $250,000
4.49% - $250,001 - $500,000
2.52% - over $500,000


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## Matt Ryan (Nov 16, 2012)

I'm shocked that over 50% of the author's make more than $10,000.

Thanks for the information. Share some more stats!


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

Matt Ryan said:


> I'm shocked that over 50% of the author's make more than $10,000.
> 
> Thanks for the information. Share some more stats!


That's got to be confirmation bias. People who are doing well love to take surveys like this. People who aren't doing well... not so much.


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## KingSweden (Dec 16, 2013)

Took it. Made maybe 1000.00 last year. Not too shabby, though I started strong and have petered out since in the roughly eight months since I put out my first book.

Henrik


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## heidi_g (Nov 14, 2013)

Done, thanks for keeping us updated on the results


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

valeriec80 said:


> That's got to be confirmation bias. People who are doing well love to take surveys like this. People who aren't doing well... not so much.


I think it depends on everyone's personal definition of doing well. There were many respondents who made $0 - $10,000 who were happy with what they made. Some were very clear that writing is only part-time and whatever money they made was just bonus.

But there were also clear trends when it came to those who made more and those who did not.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I'm sure the survey is weighted toward high earners, simply because the writers most likely to hear about it are those plugged into social media. We already know writers active on sites like this one tend to have more success than those without a support network. We'd surely get much lower numbers if the average survey respondents were a random sampling of KDP publishers. I think we'd even see lower numbers if the survey were posted to places like the KDP help forums, where participants are more likely to be newish and looking for help because they haven't found their self-pubbing feet yet. 

But self-selected surveys are still useful, if only to help us follow the patterns of successful authors. After all, they're the ones I want to emulate. Thanks for gathering the data, Beverley. I love surveys.


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## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

valeriec80 said:


> That's got to be confirmation bias. People who are doing well love to take surveys like this. People who aren't doing well... not so much.


It's KB bias. People who hang out here develop the gift of making money.

It's Betsy and her cattle prod, I tell ya.


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## Sarah Woodbury (Jan 30, 2011)

It isn't a random sample, but it is still a survey of 700 indie authors. Because I hang out here, I'm not surprised that 350 indie authors made more than $10K last year (and nearly 100 made more than $100K), but are we hearing that on all the blogs and forums and the NY Times? We hear about the 2.5% (which if my math is correct, is 14 people) who made more than $500K, but as HH has pointed out many times, the real story is further down the chart, among all those people making a living.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

I've seen this survey posted on other loops and forums where self-publishers hang out. So it isn't just KB authors. Like Dara said, what is interesting to me about this survey is that it's likely capturing self-publishers who are making a serious effort at publishing. And that makes these stats really useful as opposed to "the average self-publisher only sells 100 books" meme because that includes everyone who may or may not be worried about making a career out of writing.


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## Paul Draker (Sep 11, 2013)

Done.



Deanna Chase said:


> that makes these stats really useful as opposed to "the average self-publisher only sells 100 books"


*chuckle*

Yeah, that little gem is about as accurate as "overall ebook sales are flat/declining."


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## chrisstevenson (Aug 10, 2012)

Well, I'm just doing average or below average. I only have one SP book out there and it was a reprint from a trade publisher. I'm rather sad. It did just fine in it years at the publisher but kind of got lost on the Kindle boards. I thought paranormal romance was pretty hot, but I guess mine is not catching any favorable wind. It's called the War Gate. Perhaps you can tell me if the cover art is inappropriate or really stinks. The cover was donated to me and I didn't want to break her heart by changing it. 

chris


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## Paul Draker (Sep 11, 2013)

chrisstevenson said:


> I thought paranormal romance was pretty hot, but I guess mine is not catching any favorable wind. It's called the War Gate. Perhaps you can tell me if the cover art is inappropriate or really stinks.


Hi Chris,

I read in different genres, so take this with a grain of salt... but neither your title nor your cover art nor your cover font makes me think "paranormal romance." I would have guessed Enders-Game-style military sci-fi.

But the great thing about self-pub is that you can tweak things in real time. Try a different cover for a month, and see if your sales go up. If they don't, you can always change it back.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2014)

Anymore analysis?  I want to figure out how to get bumped up into that higher tax bracket.

It sure seems like those earning $50,000 or more are not going below $2.99 to do so.  60% of those making less than $10,000 are doing that, however.  That might have a lot more to do with author platform and the ability to command those higher prices, or does it?

Certainly that 8% of lower earners pricing at $4.99 vs. the 25% of high earners comes into play.

Hm, math, I'm tired of analysis already.


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## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

chrisstevenson said:


> Well, I'm just doing average or below average. I only have one SP book out there and it was a reprint from a trade publisher. I'm rather sad. It did just fine in it years at the publisher but kind of got lost on the Kindle boards. I thought paranormal romance was pretty hot, but I guess mine is not catching any favorable wind. It's called the War Gate. Perhaps you can tell me if the cover art is inappropriate or really stinks. The cover was donated to me and I didn't want to break her heart by changing it.
> 
> chris


For your genre, the cover has got to go. Your reviews aren't bad (four star average, so you're doing good there). You can't be afraid to hurt a cover artists feelings. It's not a bad cover, it's just a bad cover for your genre. I would fix that asap, browse around google for premade covers and compare a few to the best sellers for the genre on Amazon. Once you do a cover swap, I would actively try and promote, through either social media or book reccomendation services.

If you would like more help, I would start a thread of your own as I don't wish to derail this thread any further.

Good luck and sorry about all my grammatical errors. My eyes and head hurt.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

742 respondents now reporting.  

More stats:


Of authors who earned over $50,000 in 2013

95.93% have 4 or more books up for sale
93.91 % have been self-publishing for more than 1 (one) year. 

Of authors who earned $0 - $10,000 in 2013

48.01 % have 4 or more books up for sale
59.14 % have been self-publishing for more than 1 (one) year.
___

On average, self-published authors who are currently or were formerly with a NY (traditional) publisher earn per year on their NY or traditionally published books:

39.5% - $0 - $10,000 
26.35% - $10,001 - $25,000
14.37% - $25,001 - $50,000
7.78% - $50,001 - $75,000
11.97% - over $75,000


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Just pulled together my sales data from last year and looked at all of it for the first time.

The good: I made more than I thought.
The bad: Your survey officially has false data!

;]


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## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

Just completed it. I'll be interested to see the results, should be interesting.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

KellyHarper said:


> The bad: Your survey officially has false data!
> ;]


I think this is a joke? LOL. However, I have been hearing rumblings that only the self-published authors doing well are the ones taking it.

This survey is by no means perfect. I reached out to all the places I know self-publishing authors congregate. And I do get some of the skeptics because back in 2010, I was definitely one of them. An author friend of mine decided to self-publish and I thought she was nuts. I thought she was going to be throwing her book away. I didn't think there was any money in it. She'd tell me about other authors she knew who were making money I couldn't even fathom. I thought they were blowing smoke up her ass. She told me about an author by the name of Amanda Hockings. Told me she was doing really well. It's not that I didn't believe my friend, I just thought whoever told her this was grossly exaggerating. Then I saw the remittance advice on Amanda's blog Dec 2010. I became a believer then. LOL

The thing is, because I wasn't making that kind of money and couldn't really fathom it, I stayed a skeptic for a long time. Now I know better. I do know what's possible. And I think that if I'm earning what I am (my parents have always told me I'm special, I know I'm not _that_ special), then I figure there must be a lot of writers like me out there doing just as well and better. So these results don't surprise me but they do make me _very _happy.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

What I thought would be a blog post has turned into an almost 30 page document. I will make an attempt to put together an abbreviated post on Wednesday but I'm going to also have to put the entire document up as a PDF for download.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Yay! Been anxiously awaiting this!


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## trublue (Jul 7, 2012)

Done, thx for info


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Hi everyone, I finally posted the results to the Self-Publishing Survey is up!

I embedded the entire document into the post because I simply couldn't write another word for the actual post. Feel free to download as it is 29 pages. And to comment on the post.

http://theseasonforromance.com/wordpress/2014/01/the-self-publishing-survey-results-its-a-brave-new-world/


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Downloading and reading right now. I should be writing, of course, but what's one more distraction?


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Awesome, Beverley! Totally stupid question. The authors who have yet to publish, are those respondents included in the earnings section?


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Monique said:


> Awesome, Beverley! Totally stupid question. The authors who have yet to publish, are those respondents included in the earnings section?


If they haven't published anything yet, no they wouldn't be included in any of the results.


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## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

Great job and fascinating results. I am thrilled to see so many doing well.


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

Fantastic job putting this together. Bravo!!!


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## yomatta (Jun 29, 2012)

Just finished reading it--fascinating results. I'm glad you included a variety of comments at the end, not just the "everything is going great" comments but the "I don't make crap and I'm ready to torch my house and collect insurance" comments, too.

Would be fascinating to see this done once-twice every year. Though I'm sure that's a huge workload on your shoulders!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Monique said:


> Awesome, Beverley! Totally stupid question. The authors who have yet to publish, are those respondents included in the earnings section?


Okay, I see what you mean. The never been published meant by a traditional or digital-first publisher. I should have used the exact term, which was unpublished. Sorry for the confusion.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

romanceauthor said:


> Okay, I see what you mean. The never been published meant by a traditional or digital-first publisher. I should have used the exact term, which was unpublished. Sorry for the confusion.


Yeah, I was/am confused. Never published = self-published (or self-published and unpublished in any way?). That seems an odd wording for a self-publishing survey. Or am I still confused? Is this all from the perspective of Traditional publishing? Never published doesn't mean unpublished, it means never published traditionally?


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Awesome!! I hope to find time to read it soon, just skimmed it and it confirms a lot of what I had been thinking - so that must mean it is correct.


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

I just filled out the survey; I appear at the bottom end of the demographics, unfortunately. But I'm only four months into the launch of my first novel, so I guess that's to be expected.

Interesting results.

Though, some of your reports were running as:



> 95% of Group A reported X
> 95% of Group B reported Y
> 95% of Group C reported Z
> 100% say they wrote a book&#8230;


I think I'd be more interested in:



> Reporting sales:
> 5% earned over $50K
> 30% earned from $30K-$49K
> 47% earned from $10K-$20K
> WDR earned&#8230;


Stuff like that. I think it would be more helpful to people to see where they fall in the pie chart. It would also give a better indication of what the chances are hitting it big and what your chances are of making a decent living doing this. Intelligence like this is incredibly important for writers to make proper business decisions.

Keep on working with the data! This is very educational and helpful!


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## m.a. petterson (Sep 11, 2013)

Great stuff.

Thank you.


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

Thanks for all the work you put into this, Beverley. There are some really interesting numbers in the report!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Monique said:


> Yeah, I was/am confused. Never published = self-published (or self-published and unpublished in any way?). That seems an odd wording for a self-publishing survey. Or am I still confused? Is this all from the perspective of Traditional publishing? Never published doesn't mean unpublished, it means never published traditionally?


Yes never published either traditionally or with a digital-first publisher. That's my traditional publishing brain at work.


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## MatthewAlanThyer (Jan 13, 2014)

Hugh Howey said:


> It's KB bias. People who hang out here develop the gift of making money.
> 
> It's Betsy and her cattle prod, I tell ya.


Well for Pete's sake Betsy zap me! Zap me good!


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

DDark said:


> Really interesting results, and not so surprising that romance is the frontrunner. But who said PNR was dead? lol It's always been a thriving sub genre (and has nothing to do with twilight). It's also an easy transition for those who outgrow YA paranormal.
> 
> I like seeing confirmation that $3.99 is the new price point. In many (not all) genres, this is the trend I'm noticing. I actually sell more at $3.99 than when I drop it to $2.99. In fact, $4.99 ain't looking so bad either. I'd also assume that free works more to your advantage with the more books you have out (esp. in a series) than if you just have a couple. I'm still not at the point where I want to have any of my books free.
> 
> I'd also like to see this done again; maybe others have suggestions on things they'd like to know in the publishing world. I'd like to know more about marketing strategies others are using. Could be something them millionaires aren't telling us ;-)


The next survey will be better. Promise. And then I'll have something to compare it to.


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

Great job and thank you. I bet this is going to open a few eyes. You really did excellent work here.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

romanceauthor said:


> Yes never published either traditionally or with a digital-first publisher. That's my traditional publishing brain at work.


LOL, okay. I see now. Sorry, I was being so dense. I just couldn't figure how never published = self-published, but I get it now! Finally.


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## Lo/Roxie (May 11, 2011)

DDark said:


> Really interesting results, and not so surprising that romance is the frontrunner. But who said PNR was dead? lol


The Big 6. For reals--my DH series with Forever Yours/GCP had what I thought were modest sales (definitely in comparison to my Roxie sales which have averaged 15K copies a month since September)--but they were extremely pleased with the numbers. The gist was that PNR is on the decline. I noticed that a lot of those imprints aren't buying as much and/or they're buying very few new authors and with small advances.

Which I found incredibly weird considering how many indies are rocking PNR. Of course, they're playing with price points, length, release schedules and pushing out content that readers want (hotter on the heat scale and more erotic romance than straight PNR.) IDK. There's definitely a disconnect somewhere because I'm not the only author who heard that PNR is dead in the last 6 months or so.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Monique said:


> LOL, okay. I see now. Sorry, I was being so dense. I just couldn't figure how never published = self-published, but I get it now! Finally.


The reason I did that was because everyone in the survey was self-publishing, so I wanted terms that would separate the respondents that didn't include 'self-publish'.


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## dianasg (Jan 8, 2010)

This is so awesome -- thanks for putting it together! I was also surprised to see PNR doing so well, but I'm not complaining!   The article with Hugh the other day said something like, the "voltage" self publishing runs on is the gap between what readers want and what the Big 5 are giving them. This survey really seems to confirm that, especially in genre/price point. 

(I'm curious what other genres are doing well that the Big 5 doesn't want anymore -- but that's a discussion for another thread.) 

I really appreciated your commentary/analysis -- for example, your observations regarding those few authors with 60+ titles who were making under $10k. Great job all around!


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## Writer1000 (Jul 28, 2013)

Thanks for all the time you put on this, Beverley!


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## Magda Alexander (Aug 13, 2011)

I'm getting an error message to the survey, and I wanted to let some friends know.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Magda Alexander said:


> I'm getting an error message to the survey, and I wanted to let some friends know.


Try it again. It's working fine on my end. Maybe there was a service interruption.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

Wow, you really did a lot of work there! Interesting stuff. Some good news for indies. Some good news for trads. If I'm not misreading it though, not a lot of good news there for "e-book first" pubs. They seem to lag in every way.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Katie Elle said:


> Wow, you really did a lot of work there! Interesting stuff. Some good news for indies. Some good news for trads. If I'm not misreading it though, not a lot of good news there for "e-book first" pubs. They seem to lag in every way.


Overall, traditional AND ebook first pubs are VERY reticent to give away free books. "ebook first" also seemed to lag behind when it came to writing series. However, traditional pub seemed to do better because they had perhaps "more of a fanbase" to start (as I would expect). And those who wrote series AND had a freebie in the series mix did incredibly well, especially if they had a lot of books out.

Published authors just expect to get paid for their work. It's hard to move some to the fact that sometimes giving away something they spent so much time on will be beneficial to them in the long run. I remember when I moved into my house, I received one of those Tide samplers in the mail. I bought Tide for probably another 5 years after that.


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## Vera Nazarian (Jul 1, 2011)

Excellent survey, thanks so much for putting the work into making it!  I just filled it out now, btw.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Vera Nazarian said:


> Excellent survey, thanks so much for putting the work into making it!  I just filled it out now, btw.


Thanks! And I'm glad you filled it out. It's up to 847 now. The percentages haven't shifted all that much, but the more data the better.


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## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

I'm blogging about what this survey really means. If you took it and want to chime in... Or even if you didn't.

http://theseasonforromance.com/wordpress/2014/01/what-the-self-publishing-survey-really-reveals/


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