Steve Lenaghan said:
...I hear the sizzle, show me the steak.
Here is some steak (these are people I know personally, conventional self-publishers):
Naida West, novelist (
www.bridgehousebooks.com). 30,000 copies sold (so far) of her first novel in a trilogy. She pre-sold entire 3,000 copy first print run of second novel in the series. She has turned down commercial publishers who had been reluctant to publish her big historical novels BEFORE she proved that the appeal was not merely regional. (It is in fact national and even international.) BTW, search for Naida's comments on "Why People Hate Self-Publishers"
here. That will help to explode a lot of misconceptions. She minces no words and knows whereof she speaks.
Karl Palachuk, author of books on computer network administration (
http://www.greatlittlebook.com/). Thousands of copies sold (probably few or none through bookstores -- his books are adjunct to consulting business). Only thousands, you say? Ok, printing cost of a few dollars, selling price of $40 to $90 (the latter version comes with a CD with forms or the like). You do the math.
Bill Teie, author of textbook on wildland firefighting and ancillary books and tutorial/reference materials, with a national and international audience (
www.deervalleypress.com). Upwards of 30,000 copies of the flagship textbook, and total sales of 78,000 and growing. Now developing an edition for Australia (to be published there under contract). He has turned down buyout offers from a major textbook publisher.
Alton Pryor (
www.stagecoachpublishing.com), author of (mostly) Western regional history. Top seller: 75,000 copies. That is one of 16 books so far, with #17 on the way. He prefers to sell directly as his profit is MUCH higher per copy -- and he has a great time doing it. (BTW, he wrote his first book at age 70.)
Not enough? See first chapter of Tom & Marilyn Ross's book on self-publishing.
The point is that it CAN be done. I am not claiming that the examples listed are typical. They most certainly are not. But they prove that self-publishers CAN do well. It is extremely unlikely that I just happen to know the only four successful self-publishers. (Actually, I know more, but they have not cited sales numbers; but they seem to be running good businesses.) Dan Poynter and Tom & Marilyn Ross have made careers of teaching people how to self-publish WELL (Poynter's book is now in its 14th edition, I believe, and the Rosses' book is in its 4th), and organizations such as PMA and SPAN support those efforts and provide extensive training.
As I have said time and again:
self-publishing is a BUSINESS and is suitable only for people who want to run a business, who have or are willing to develop the skills to do so, and who can and do write materials that will have a real audience. Those who only want to write or who do not have entrepreneurial skills and interests should not attempt it. Those who want to test the waters might want to compromise on POD. (I have seen that work for authors who then went on to commercial publishing, including a novelist and a business writer.)
Those who are skeptical might want to attend meetings of the nearest affiliate of PMA or SPAN. Might be eye-opening. If one LOOKS in the right places, one finds examples. But they are invisible to those who do not look or whose eyes or minds are simply closed.
--Ken