Authors who have sold more than 50,000 self-published ebooks to date

[BookReader]

http://selfpublishingsuccessstories.blogspot.com/

Too long to list (125 in total so far)

Of the 125 listed, these have sold more than 200,000 self-published ebooks

Amanda Hocking - 1,500,000 ebooks sold (December 2011)
Barbara Freethy - 1.3 million self-published ebooks sold (Dec 2011)
John Locke- more than 1,100,000 eBooks sold in five months
Gemma Halliday - over 1 million self-published ebooks sold (March 2012)
Michael Prescott - more than 800,000 self-published ebooks sold (Dec 2011)
Chris Culver - over 550,000 (Dec 2011)
Heather Killough-Walden - over 500,000 books sold (Dec 2011)
Selena Kitt - "With half a million ebooks sold in 2011 alone"
J.A. Konrath - more than 500,000 ebooks sold (November 2011)
Stephen Leather - close to 500,000 books sold (Nov 2011)
CJ Lyons - almost 500,000 ebooks sold (Dec 2011)
J.R. Rain - more than 400,000 books sold (Sept 2011)
Darcie Chan - more than 400,000 ebooks sold (Nov 2011)
Bob Mayer - 347 sold in Jan to over 400,000 total sold by year's end (Dec 2011)
Bella Andre - more than 400,000 books sold (Feb 2012)
Tina Folsom - over 300,000 books sold (October 2011)
J Carson Black - more than 300,000 books sold (November 2011)
B.V. Larson - over 250,000 books sold (Dec 2011)
Kerry Wilkinson - more than 250,000 books sold (Feb 2012)
T.R. Ragan - 239,592 books sold (March 2012)
H.P. Mallory - more than 200,000 ebooks sold (July 2011)
Marie Force - more than 200,000 sold in the last year (March 2012)



http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012...olders-letter/
Amazon CEO in his annual letter to shareholders

Kindle Direct Publishing has quickly taken on astonishing scale – more than a thousand KDP authors now each sell more than a thousand copies a month, some have already reached hundreds of thousands of sales, and two have already joined the Kindle Million Club. KDP is a big win for authors. Authors who use KDP get to keep their copyrights, keep their derivative rights, get to publish on their schedule – a typical delay in traditional publishing can be a year or more from the time the book is finished – and … saving the best for last … KDP authors can get paid royalties of 70%. The largest traditional publishers pay royalties of only 17.5% on ebooks (they pay 25% of 70% of the selling price which works out to be 17.5% of the selling price). The KDP royalty structure is completely transformative for authors. A typical selling price for a KDP book is a reader-friendly $2.99 – authors get approximately $2 of that! With the legacy royalty of 17.5%, the selling price would have to be $11.43 to yield the same $2 per unit royalty. I assure you that authors sell many, many more copies at $2.99 than they would at $11.43.

[Starchaser3000]

Wow!! I guess this is encouraging for a self published author myself. Are any of those authors written material in the vein of dark fantasy or parody/satire by any chance?

[DavidGil]

Glad you posted this, BookReader.

I was tempted to re-post what you had in the 'Which method of publishing is better for a first time author?' thread, while giving you credit. Would have had its own thread then in the publishing section rather than being a post in the general discussion, therefore having more chance people would have noticed it as I felt the info you had posted was quite informative.

Might actually be worthwhile adding the information included in that post to this thread actually, so others have a reference point for how much traditionally published authors may or may not make.

Just a thought anyway.

[CandraH]

I don't know. I'd be wary of paying too much attention to someone who seems more interested in posting lists of statistics trying to prove how great self publishing is than showing a balanced view.

KDP authors can get paid royalties of 70%. The largest traditional publishers pay royalties of only 17.5% on ebooks (they pay 25% of 70% of the selling price which works out to be 17.5% of the selling price).

Reason I'm wary is because they're only mentioning ebook royalties for traditional published authors, but make no mention of the royalties paid alongside on print books for the same authors.

Personally, I'd be more interested in doing my own balanced research and getting a big picture view rather than taking skewed stats from some stranger on an internet forum as gospel.

[Davisstories]

Very insight and wish I knew their secret. My books with a publisher sell much more than the SP books. They must be doing something unique to get their books popped to the top of the stack in the outlet search engines (BN, Amazon, etc).

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Davisstories

Very insight and wish I knew their secret. My books with a publisher sell much more than the SP books. They must be doing something unique to get their books popped to the top of the stack in the outlet search engines (BN, Amazon, etc).

Michael may I ask some questions?

Are you saying your traditionally published books sell much more than any of those listed?

And this is reflected in your royalty statements I presume is where you are getting the information. Have they all "earned out" and you are getting royalties? or you were paid an advance only?

Thanks!

P.S. I guess I must be misunderstanding what you said, I see your Kindle books on Amazon so I'm confused about you saying "My books with a publisher sell much more than the SP books." May you have traditionally published books in addition to your Kindle books?

[Davisstories]

No Kenny. Sorry for any confusion. I'm saying that the average per book sells for stories released by MY publisher have sold more Than those I tried to SP myself. And in no way do my royalties sum up beyond those examples sited in the original posts. Lordy Lordy would I be a happy camper then (g)

Oh, one more point on this. I have two author friends who both are published and both tried the SP route as an experiment like me. Their experience was the same as mine. So what every those on the list are doing, wish I knew.

[kennyc]

thank you. I understand now. thanks

[Gaines]

Not to brag but about two years ago I posted that self publishing was about to explode and writers would flock to it like ducks to a pond. The numbers on this are just the tip of the print-berg.

Nice!

[BookReader]

http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/201...el-j-sullivan/
Michael Sullivan on Self-publishing


For those unfamiliar with the author, he self-published, made it big and then got a six figure advance from a Big 6 Publisher.

Here is my take on self-publishing…your chances of success are approximately the same as your chances with traditional publishing. In both cases it all comes down to three things: writing skill, talent, and persistence. The more you have of each the better your chances of success in either approach.

[Gaines]

Originally Posted by CandraH

I don't know. I'd be wary of paying too much attention to someone who seems more interested in posting lists of statistics trying to prove how great self publishing is than showing a balanced view.

*** What sort of balanced view are you talking about?


Reason I'm wary is because they're only mentioning ebook royalties for traditional published authors, but make no mention of the royalties paid alongside on print books for the same authors.

*** What?!


Personally, I'd be more interested in doing my own balanced research and getting a big picture view rather than taking skewed stats from some stranger on an internet forum as gospel.

*** Start your research with Amanda Hocking.

[kennyc]

And follow up with the links I've posted in other similar threads, check out/research Joe Konrath, read his blog: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

Download and read "Be the Monkey" (free) from: http://www.barryeisler.com/ebooks/ebooks-buy.php

You might check out/research Barry Eisler as well because he turned down a $500,000 contract to self-publish.

[CandraH]

Damnit, Gaines, you really need to sort out your quoting habits. I just had to do a lot of copy pasting there and forgot most of what I was going to say.

Originally Posted by Gaines

I don't know. I'd be wary of paying too much attention to someone who seems more interested in posting lists of statistics trying to prove how great self publishing is than showing a balanced view.

*** What sort of balanced view are you talking about?

Reason I'm wary is because they're only mentioning ebook royalties for traditional published authors, but make no mention of the royalties paid alongside on print books for the same authors.

*** What?!

Both those paragraphs were part of the same thought so I'll answer your questions together.

Just that the Bookreader guy who posted the stats didn't show royalties for print books for those traditionally published authors alongside their ebooks royalties. It seemed like he was giving a pro self publishing/anti traditional publishing view. I've seen his later post though which does give a more balanced outlook so it's not really an issue anymore.

[BookReader]

http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/201...el-j-sullivan/
Michael Sullivan on Self-publishing

Will you make more money traditional or through self-publishing? I have no doubt that self-publishing produces the higher income potential. In traditional publishing you make 8-10% of list price on print books and 17.5% on ebooks. When self publishing I made about 45% of list on print books sold directly by me, 23% on print sold by online stores such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble, and 70% on ebooks (where the bulk of my sales were found). I’ve sold about 60,000 books traditionally (1st book released in Nov 2011, second in mid December 2011, and third at the end of January 2012). During the months of November 2010 to February 2011 my self-publishing sales were more than 40,000 (across five titles). My income for traditionally published books is $1.12 for print and $1.75 for ebooks. When self published I made $3.50 – $6.50 for print and $3.50 – $4.87 for ebooks.

[BookReader]

Here's another print royalties vs. ebook (self-published royalties) from an author who do both.

http://markterrybooks.blogspot.it/20...g-is-dead.html

Two, my royalties on my ebooks are actually higher both in terms of percentage (about 8% on hardcovers for my legacy publishers and 70% on ebooks myself) and in hard dollar numbers (calculating hardcover royalties after discounts, etc., is a nightmare, but let's be optimistic and say 8% on $25, which is $2. My Kindle royalties on a $2.99 ebook comes to $2.04 per copy downloaded).

So, anyway...

Print royalties from traditional publishers: $249.99 over 6 months ----keep in mind that the author got an advance from the books (no idea how much of an advance)
Ebook royalties from self-publishing: $1013 (from just 1 month, January 2012)

[kennyc]

He also mentions KKR's blog entry which is worth reading in this context:

http://kriswrites.com/2012/04/18/the...of-publishing/

[Gaines]

Thank you Kenny C for that link! It has long been my contention that the TP outlets have operated from a monopolistic standpoint therefore treating the Authors like so much chattle they arbitrarily dictate all the contractual terms in favor of the publishing house. Fuck them!

The blood, sweat,tears and fears of aspiring authors have hinged way too long on the discretionary powers of the TP. So eager and desperate have writers been to have their work in print they give away the rights to their children just to see their name on a bookshelf cover and the publishers know this.

The ebook, self publishing, is breaking down those old bastions of hubris and rightfully so. Give away the rights to my work for a ten year period? Kiss my ass. You pay me a yearly sum that I feel is fair for my intellectual work every year for ten years and we have a deal that is equitable for both parties. How's that for fair and above board you greedy schmucks. And don't whine to me about how much risk and exspense you are taking bringing the product to market. You do it in the hopes of profiting from the work of others. Everyone involved should be paid fairly and treated fairly. If you feel the risk is too high then don't do it. Get out of the business and find yourself a line of work more suited to you. There's always barber college!

If what I am saying isn't true then explain to me and others why so many mainstream established writers are going the ebook route? Why is the "SP industry exploding at the pace it is?

Why? Because they no longer have to sit across some desk dealing with some cheesedick in a three piece suit over a one sided contract! That's fucking why!

Gotta love it!!!!

[BookReader]

Lot of indie authors who sold more than 10,000 books a month judging from this:


http://ireaderreview.com/2012/03/20/...thors-of-2011/
Top 50 Indie Seller for the month of March



http://ireaderreview.com/2012/05/03/...hors-to-watch/
Top 100 Indie Sellers for the month of April



Looking at Kindle Top 100 Best Sellers for Sci Fi, Fantasy, Romance, Thriller etc., there are a lot of self-published books there.

[BookReader]

The list grew from 125 to 161 since I started this thread.

And it's only a partial list.

[Mike C]

Time for a bit of balance.

Yes a small number of authors are selling big numbers by self-publishing.

Some genres work better than others. And you have to be at least as good a marketer as you do a writer;

From guardian article on self publishing yesterday:

"...despite the tempting royalty slices available, you almost certainly won't make much money. Half of the self-published authors in the Taleist survey earned less than £320 in 2011 from their books; 75% of reported revenues were concentrated among less than 10% of authors. Those who had an agent earned three times their unrepresented peers."

The talelist survey questioned over 1000 self published authors and is available on kindle via Amazon.

[CandraH]

I like balance.

[Mike C]

Originally Posted by Gaines

Not to brag but about two years ago I posted that self publishing was about to explode and writers would flock to it like ducks to a pond.

More like lambs to a kebab convention for 99% of them.

[Devon]

More like lambs to a kebab convention for 99% of them.

Paints a funny picture. I hope I get fried gently.

[Bagit]

Here's the gist I get from all this publishing headace. It is possible when you send a story in that it is read by many. Therefore, it is judged by many. Too many, if you ask me.

The ultimate decision could possibly be judged by a person in the strappings of a guillotine harness.

[Mike C]

If you think your writing is judged by too many, don't let anyone read it. The point of writing is to be read. All readers judge.

[Gaines]

I like kebab....and duck.

[Mike C]

Peking Kebab?

So people who publish their own work are getting fried? Eaten?
Something horrible is happening to them?
Please expound.

[Devon]

Yes. Fried. Eaten. Both. You choose.

[Mike C]

Not fried, but anybody who goes into it with their eyes closed is likely to get their fingers burned.