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- Oct 24, 2010
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Hi Kids,
I'm a bit of an obsessive researcher about earnings, future earnings, what the publishing industry might be doing in the future, etc. I've found this website VERY helpful in figuring out the current trends and where author's are really making their money. Surprise! It's not with the Big 5 for the most part. Take a look at all the pie charts, graphs, etc that this group is doing in an effort to figure out what author's are really earning and whose making a living at writing.
For example from http://authorearnings.com/report/july-2014-author-earnings-report/:
In February, we were able to announce that self-published authors are earning nearly as much as Big 5 authors combined when it comes to ebook sales on the Kindle Store. In the two quarters since, the earnings for Big 5 authors has shrunk while that for indies has grown. We can now say that self-published authors earn more in royalties than Big 5 authors, combined. This may reverse itself by the time February rolls around, but it adds weight to a recent story in The Guardian about the unsustainability of traditional publishing if authors continue to earn less while their publishers earn more.
It bears putting a number here and stressing what we are seeing: Self-published authors are now earning nearly 40% of all ebook royalties on the Kindle store. The days of looking at self-publishing as a last option are long gone. A lot has changed in six months.
http://authorearnings.com/
***I'm not endorsing the site as gospel and infallible, but they have done some great research and knowledge is power***
I'm a bit of an obsessive researcher about earnings, future earnings, what the publishing industry might be doing in the future, etc. I've found this website VERY helpful in figuring out the current trends and where author's are really making their money. Surprise! It's not with the Big 5 for the most part. Take a look at all the pie charts, graphs, etc that this group is doing in an effort to figure out what author's are really earning and whose making a living at writing.
For example from http://authorearnings.com/report/july-2014-author-earnings-report/:
In February, we were able to announce that self-published authors are earning nearly as much as Big 5 authors combined when it comes to ebook sales on the Kindle Store. In the two quarters since, the earnings for Big 5 authors has shrunk while that for indies has grown. We can now say that self-published authors earn more in royalties than Big 5 authors, combined. This may reverse itself by the time February rolls around, but it adds weight to a recent story in The Guardian about the unsustainability of traditional publishing if authors continue to earn less while their publishers earn more.
It bears putting a number here and stressing what we are seeing: Self-published authors are now earning nearly 40% of all ebook royalties on the Kindle store. The days of looking at self-publishing as a last option are long gone. A lot has changed in six months.
http://authorearnings.com/
***I'm not endorsing the site as gospel and infallible, but they have done some great research and knowledge is power***