5 ms·

The publishing industry is slowly going to unravel. If you write a very successful book with traditional publishing cut you might make 30-40k. Average is lower

The publishing industry is slowly going to unravel. If you write a very successful book with traditional publishing cut you might make 30-40k. Average is lower. There are power laws at play, but as few as 5% make it past six figures. So when I wrote a book about step-by-step user acquisition (https://secretsaucenow.com https://secretsaucenow.com) I self-published. Made $60,000-ish in presales, sold another $60,000 while I was finishing the book. And now pull in 4-8k/month. If I signed a deal with a publishing company selling the same number of books I would have made ~10k. Instead I found a freelance editor and typesetter ($400), printed the first 100 ($700), and sell the vast majority as eBooks. It's done well, but not earth shatteringly well, and I'm up above $140k in profit. There is very little reason nowadays, IMO, to not self-publish.

puranjay 9y ago
There's one thing you have to factor: the near-instant credibility a physical book published by a big-name publisher gets you. This credibility can often turn into some very lucrative gigs. I wouldn't mind publishing fiction myself, but if I was doing non-fiction, I would want to go through traditional publishing. It doesn't really matter whether people like, say, Malcolm Gladwell made any money off their books. The credibility their books earned them pays off in the longer run.
- philsnow 9y ago
  > There's one thing you have to factor: the near-instant credibility a physical book published by a big-name publisher gets you. > This credibility can often turn into some very lucrative gigs. Does success with a self-published book (or multiple books) translate into making it easier to get books published by big-name publishers on more-acceptable terms?
triplesec 9y ago
Can you tell us what processes you used to sell well / point us at resources? Especially re pre-sales, but also for how to make a good book sustainable like that?
- austenallred 9y ago
  Download a sample of the book at https://secretsaucenow.com https://secretsaucenow.com - it explains it

puranjay 9y ago

There's one thing you have to factor: the near-instant credibility a physical book published by a big-name publisher gets you. This credibility can often turn into some very lucrative gigs. I wouldn't mind publishing fiction myself, but if I was doing non-fiction, I would want to go through traditional publishing. It doesn't really matter whether people like, say, Malcolm Gladwell made any money off their books. The credibility their books earned them pays off in the longer run.

philsnow 9y ago
> There's one thing you have to factor: the near-instant credibility a physical book published by a big-name publisher gets you. > This credibility can often turn into some very lucrative gigs. Does success with a self-published book (or multiple books) translate into making it easier to get books published by big-name publishers on more-acceptable terms?

triplesec 9y ago

Can you tell us what processes you used to sell well / point us at resources? Especially re pre-sales, but also for how to make a good book sustainable like that?

austenallred 9y ago
Download a sample of the book at https://secretsaucenow.com https://secretsaucenow.com - it explains it