The publishing industry is awash with various sales figures from different sources, and a hell of a lot of smoke and mirrors.
AuthorEarnings.com does a great job of highlighting indie sales on the various stores, showing the indie share of ebook sales and income rising. Their latest report for May 2016 goes into the numbers of indie authors making income from Amazon specifically.
On the other end of the scale, the AAP has the data from traditional publishers showing that ebook sales are decreasing, although these numbers don't include the 30% of ebooks sold without ISBNs in the US.
Both of these sources are aggregated reports and they are difficult to equate with specific authors and specific books.
So I think it's important to be as transparent as we are able about our book sales and income in order to help each other make decisions. Obviously data from one author (me!) is only anecdotal, but it's all I have, so I offer it to you. Make of it what you will.
Here are my total sales and income figures based on book sales
My company, The Creative Penn Limited, has a financial year running May – April. Last year, I reported on my income breakdown and various reports on my books. It was the first year I cracked a six-figure income as an author-entrepreneur since leaving my day-job in Sept 2011.
As a comparison to the previous report, the company income has almost tripled, meaning that my husband was able to quit his job in October 2015 🙂 I make income through course sales, affiliate income, professional speaking, and podcast sponsorship, all of which stems from my writing. [More detail on all of this in How to Make a Living with your Writing.]
But most authors are only interested in book sales and what impacts them, so this report covers May 2015 – April 2016 and will go into more detail on book sales specifically.
Total book sales income: US$95,000 (approx £66,000)
Total book sales volume: 40,667 (does not include free books)
Price points range from $2.99 – $16.99 (the higher priced boxsets are not on Amazon because of the $9.99 cap), and I ran various price reduction promotions during the year.
I'm not a breakout success in any genre, and my books are rarely in the top sales ranking on Amazon, so this demonstrates what you can do with a long term approach of building a back-list that sells small numbers consistently on multiple platforms.
Some of you will think this is amazing … and some of you will think this is pathetic!
Such is the way of authorship, when there are always people to compare ourselves to. But the best comparison is to where we were last year, and this is essentially double what I made with my books 2014 – 2015. I'm also very happy with making (almost) six figures from book sales alone, especially as a practically unknown author writing cross-genre with no breakout success books.
And as Hugh Howey has repeatedly said, this is the real story of self-publishing. It's not the outliers who make 7-figures or get movie deals, it's the many many many authors who are making a decent living now. We are not top of the charts but we put out quality books that people read and we make good money on the way … happy times!
All the following calculations and graphs are based on income split, since ultimately, that's more important that sales volume. You can't eat sales figures but you can eat royalties!
Breakdown by vendor
It won't be a surprise to see that Amazon still dominates, making up 56% of my book sales income through KDP, Createspace and ACX (Audible).
But that is a LOT less than many authors, especially those in KDP Select, and a lot less than many traditional publishers. It is also down on last year's Amazon total percentage of 74%.
I'm gratified by this as I made a decision back in the days of the Amazon/Hachette price discussions in 2014 that I would not let one company have dominant control over my income.
I love Amazon but I'm thrilled that Apple and Kobo now make up 40% in total (up from 19% last year) and I intend to grow both in the coming year.
I've also just gone back to selling direct using Selz (and exempting EU buyers because of the VATMOSS pain – updated post on this here), so next year I will hopefully have a wedge of sales that are purely from my two websites.
[What's not included: I don't count Nook as my sales there are so dire. I'm not on Google Play as I'd like to use Draft2Digital for that to avoid tech pain and currently that's not possible. I'm also not counting translations or stores like Tolino, 24 Symbols, and any other small stores in this analysis as the sales are so tiny right now. I'm also not counting occasions when my books have been included in bundles or other boxsets when I don't have the direct sales data. So this is all conservative.]
Breakdown by format
Definitely no surprise here as ebooks are generally where indies make their money.
Let's also just emphasize again that this is over 36,000 ebooks and over US$86,000 that are NOT counted in any official publishing reports, as I don't use ISBNs on ebooks or audiobooks and I use free Createspace ISBNs for print.
(If you're wondering why, it's because I clearly don't need ISBNs to make a living and I don't focus on print sales as a core part of my business. If you want to, then consider purchasing your own ISBNs and using IngramSpark for extended distribution. More on that here.)
According to AuthorEarnings, over 30% of ebooks purchased in the US don't have ISBNs as indies have no need to use them, and this is the missing data that makes the traditional publishing industry think that ebook sales are dropping and print is rising in comparison. In reality, it's just that they are not counting all the data.
My own print sales (8%) have remained a similar percentage of income to last year (7%), but my audiobook sales have dropped from 5% to only 2% of income. Many indies have seen a similar drop in audiobook sales as the subscription model takes hold and listeners can get audiobooks for cheap if they own the ebook.
Breakdown by fiction vs non-fiction
This is better as a line chart as the split is so different by store.
The numbers are based upon:
FICTION: 9 full-length novels, 3 novellas and a short story series. Stone of Fire is permafree on all ebook platforms and is not therefore counted. I also have 4 boxsets at various price points including a 7 book box-set on Kobo
NON-FICTION: 4 full-length books, 3 shorter-length. Successful Self-Publishing is permafree on all stores and is not therefore counted.
The split is explainable thus:
- Apple and Kobo sales are based on merchandising opportunities, which come up for fiction more often than my particular type of non-fiction, so my fiction is more highly visible there.
- I am not in KDP Select, so my Amazon sales are based on driving my own traffic or people using Amazon as a search engine. My non-fiction books have SEO book titles and I also have traffic from this site, which drives sales, as I primarily use Amazon affiliate codes in blog posts. I'm happy to see that my fiction sales still outweigh the non-fiction, which they should be based on number of books available, but you'll find that my sales ranking is usually pretty low, so hopefully it's encouraging to see what you can make on a decent base of books over time, even without breakout success.
- ACX/Audible sales are dominated by my one non-fiction book, Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur, which I narrated and produced myself, so I get higher royalties. I also push traffic to it from this site, and my fiction has a lot less visibility. I'm going to continue to narrate my own non-fiction but am probably more likely to sell it direct from this site in future until there are other options around audio.
- Overall, the split (70:30) is representative of my number of books across fiction and non-fiction, and is pretty similar to last year's split (60:40).
Breakdown of ebook sales by country where books are sold across Amazon, Kobo and iBooks
This will be the first year analyzing this data as I wanted to baseline it going forward. It's hard to get country specific data on all formats, on all stores, so this is only ebook sales data from Amazon, Kobo and iBooks. I'd like to urge the retailers to include this in data downloads so it's easier to manage!
Those who read this blog regularly or listen to my podcast will know how bullish I am on global sales and how I fully expect to see the majority of my income coming from outside the US over the next few years, especially as streaming internet speeds spread to the rest of the world.
But I didn't expect that to have happened already for ebooks!
You can see from the chart that only 46% of my ebook sales are now from the US. It may be even less since the Amazon.com sales may also come from other countries without their own specific stores.
The ‘Other' wedge is made up of 56 different countries, most of which have a few sales each, but I expect that to grow in coming years. Only Kobo provides a cool sales map as part of their reporting!
What accounts for sales doubling? How did I sell and market in 2015 – 2016?
The primary reason my book sales income has almost doubled is because I have published a number of books, thus increasing the volume of intellectual property assets and also giving readers a better chance to discover my work. In the 2015 – 2016 financial year, I wrote and published:
- Deviance, London Psychic crime thriller #3 (full-length)
- Risen Gods, co-written with J.Thorn, a dark fantasy thriller set in New Zealand (full-length)
-
Destroyer of Worlds, ARKANE thriller #8 (full-length)
- How to Make a Living with your Writing (short non-fiction), which was listed on Inc.com as one of the top 100 business books in 2015
- Co-writing a Book: Collaboration and Co-creation for authors, co-written with J. Thorn (short non-fiction)
- Successful Self-Publishing: How to self-publish an ebook and print book. Free on all ebook stores and leads into my other books (short non-fiction)
- An English Country House & Garden Fine Art Coloring Book, co-produced with my print-maker Dad, Arthur J. Penn
- 4 single author box-sets, London Psychic box-set containing the trilogy, ARKANE Boxset 2 containing books 4-6, plus a 7 book ARKANE boxset, and also the Writer's Toolbox, with selected non-fiction.
In case you're wondering how I publish and market:
- I go direct to Amazon KDP, Kobo Writing Life and iBooks, as well as ACX for audio and Createspace for print. I use Draft2Digital for other ebook sales. I do have minor sales on other platforms but these are the dominant ones. More on how to self-publish here.
- I'm not in KDP Select and I actively promote books on the other platforms.
- I pursue merchandising on Kobo, iBooks and D2D and foster relationships by going to live events and actively promoting the other platforms as a vocal advocate for going wide, rather than staying exclusive.
Marketing:
- For non-fiction, I write books that my audience (you lot!) ask for or indicate by your interest that you would like. I also use SEO book titles.
- For non-fiction, I use content marketing i.e. putting out free useful information that brings people to my site. I have a weekly podcast and talk about my writing update every week, fostering interest and I'm also able to tell people when books are ready. I also blog on lessons learned here, plus I share on Twitter and Facebook and people mainly find my books this way. I've been doing this consistently for nearly 8 years.
- I have free email list signup offers and continue to build my email lists: Author Blueprint for this site and my non-fiction, and Day of the Vikings for my fiction.
- For fiction primarily, I use price promotions and associated advertising (paid e.g. Bookbub, Freebooksy) and also merchandising, which I apply for directly to Kobo and iBooks.
- I use permafree for fiction (Stone of Fire) and also for non-fiction (Successful Self-Publishing).
- I've started to use Facebook Advertising for the boxsets in particular and also video ads for the recent launch of Destroyer of Worlds. More on how I use Facebook Ads here.
These are the main ones, but I do dabble in many other marketing things. Check out How to Market a Book for more ideas.
Conclusion and decisions for financial year 2016 – 2017
Based on these numbers, I will:
- Write more books 🙂 More books make more money, even if they are not bestsellers. That's the magic of multiple streams of income based on intellectual property assets, selling in multiple formats and multiple countries. Oh yes, and creating is what I love doing with my life, so more books makes for a happier me!
- Focus on more fiction merchandizing and advertising at Kobo and Apple. I'll be finishing the ARKANE cycle of 9 books, so I will make that into a 9-book-boxset which I can sell for higher prices (as there's no royalty cap at $9.99). I've also got tons of other ideas.
- Write more non-fiction with SEO book titles for Amazon, in particular. Obviously my fiction will sell there too, but as I write cross-genre, I struggle to get traction and as I'm not KDP Select, fiction has less visibility overall.
- Record my own non-fiction audiobooks and sell direct from my website. I'm also intending to launch my next novel, End of Days, with the audiobook, print and ebook at the same time to try and boost audio sales. Fiction will continue to be done with pro narrators.
- Focus on growing the direct sales route to maximize revenue and collect email addresses. [To encourage this, you can get 10% off any books or audios you buy direct from me on this site by using promo code: CREATIVE on checkout. Click here to see all the books and on each page, you'll find a button to buy direct from the author on sales page.]
- Try some wild cards and maybe the lightning will strike. I'm always looking for ways to get my ideas into new markets. I'd definitely consider a traditional publishing deal if the right opportunity came along. I'm writing a screenplay. I'm working with an Indian company to get Destroyer of Worlds into Bollywood. I have a book I want to write and pitch for gaming companies. I'm dipping my toes into VR … we live in such exciting times!
OK, I hope you found that interesting or perhaps even useful for your own author journey. If you share your sales figures on your site, no matter how big or how small, then please do link it in the comments. Or you're welcome to leave a question or a comment below.
Sukhi Jutla says
Thanks for sharing so honestly Joanna. So happy for your continued success (introverted jumping up and down!). This is just further proof of the results of sheer hard work over a period of time and not falling for the myth of the ‘overnight success’. Being an Author Entrepreneur is about committing to do the work for the long-term.
ps-thanks for all you do for authors 🙂
Aidan J. Reid says
This is superb information Joanna. Many thanks for your honesty. Bookmarked for future reference. I’ve been a lurker for the last few months and always love your self-publishing content and podcasts. Incredibly useful. Thanks again.
Joanna Penn says
Thanks for moving from lurking to commenting 🙂 It’s always wonderful to know what helps people.
Cat Michaels says
Bravo for sharing you writing journey and success strategies. A lovely jolt of inspiration and ideas. Much appreciated.
Maria Staal says
Hey Joanna,
Thank you for sharing your own earnings with your readers.
I bit the bullet and published mine as well.
http://mariastaal.com/2016/06/05/my-sales-figures-over-2015/
Joanna Penn says
Thanks so much for posting your figures and great to see such an international spread in your sales as well!
Julia Kent says
Go Joanna! I just put up my first megabundle on Kobo and iBooks as well — it’s a sound strategy for meeting different levels of market demand.
Your international growth is fabulous. Thanks for giving such a comprehensive breakdown.
Joanna Penn says
Thanks Julia 🙂 and you’re a great role model too!
Tonya says
Thanks for this awesome breakdown, Joanna. It can seem so overwhelming to write, market, and live at times, but this has certainly helped to streamline the business portion quite well for my brain! Very encouraging post.
Joanna Penn says
I’m glad you found it useful 🙂 Overwhelm is a problem for authors, but definitely remember that it always comes back to creating intellectual property assets for the long term
Courtney K. says
Thanks Joanna! I and many others appreciate your transparency. You continue to inspire and motivate me to keep writing!!
Kristian J says
Thanks so much for your generosity in sharing these figures with other authors, Johanna. You are an inspiration to me and all authors. Well done on your success!
Brian @ SFF Chronicles says
Just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for posting your stats – that’s so helpful for everyone else trying to untangle the world of SP.
In the meantime, well done for your success so far!
Joanna Penn says
I’m so glad you found it useful, Brian.
JJ Toner says
Hi Joanna. Brilliant post as usual, and enormously informative. I wondered if you have ever considered switching genres with your fiction. Unless I’m very wide of the mark, I think all your fiction is in just one genre so far. Thanks again. JJ
Joanna Penn says
Thanks JJ. I write action-adventure thrillers (ARKANE series), crime thrillers with a British Detective, which are classified as crime but I still use the thriller tag, dark fantasy (Risen Gods) – so technically, I’d say I write in several sub-genres of supernatural thriller. I write what I love to read, so I will likely write more of these types of books 🙂
Graham Downs says
I think this is fantastic, Joanna. Good for you! As someone who feels like he “knows” you from YouTube, your newsletter, Twitter, and having read a few of your books, I’m rather proud of you… as if you care about someone like me being proud.
Oh dear, I hope that didn’t sound too stalkerish. I’m not a stalker, I promise!
But I don’t really know whether to be inspired or depressed, when I compare this to my own journey. I guess that’s the problem, as you intimated, with writing articles like this: different people are going to react to it differently.
But in the interest of transparency (and because you showed me yours), here’s my breakdown from last year:
Income: R356.91 (~ $23.96)
Expenses: R1 815.12 (~ $121.86)
I haven’t broken it down, but Income includes actual book sales (all formats), and affiliate income, while Expenses includes various kinds of paid marketing and advertising (including Twitter and Facebook ads), editing services, cover design, and printing costs.
As you can plainly see, I’m still very much in the red. My income in 2015 is in fact LOWER than it was in 2014, while my 2015 expenses are HIGHER than the previous year.
I’ve been keeping books since I published my first book in 2012, so I can also tell you that I’ve made a net loss of R4 850.20 (~ $325.62) over the four year period.
However, so far in 2016, my income exceeds my 2015 figure, so there is hope.
I guess one of my big problems is living in a country that is neither the US nor the UK, and focussing most of my marketing efforts on local readers, because I strongly believe that a South African author should be better known by South African readers than international ones. 🙂
P.S. I should also point out that, while $325.62 probably doesn’t seem like much money to an American, because of cost of living differences (see The Big Mac index), R4 850.20 is a HELL of a lot of money to a South African. 😉
Icy Sedgwick says
I think I made around $30 from my writing in 2014-15 so it’s heartening to know that the more books you have, the higher that number goes! I’m doing Nick Stephenson’s course though (so my mailing list is definitely growing) and I’ve just dipped my toe into Facebook ads so it’s nice to know that it’s possible to making a living from writing. Even your book sales alone, without all of the money from speaking and courses, is pretty much six times what I earn as a teacher!
I really appreciate you putting this info out there though. It’s nice to see actual data instead of just anecdotes 🙂
Joanna Penn says
Glad you found it useful, Icy 🙂 I’m coming into my 10th year of writing, so I suppose it’s about time it paid off!
Frances Caballo says
Congratulations on your incredible success. I know that you work incredibly hard so you deserve this success. You are an inspiration for me and I’m positive all indie authors. Kudos to you! (And thank you for sharing these numbers.)
Joanna Penn says
Thanks Frances 🙂
Margaret Pinard says
What an amazing, detailed post! I’m so glad your work is returning dividends, literally! 🙂 It looks like I need to add putting my books on Apple and Kobo to my list of No-Brainers…and I can come back to absorb the rest of your insights when I get a second wind, haha. In awe of your drive, Joanna!
Francois Houle says
Hi Joanna: I’m always amazed at how much you share and want to thank you for it. It’s very encouraging, especially knowing that you’ve not had a real breakout novel but are still making a living. I’ve been following your journey for many years and you’ve inspired me to start mine 18 months ago (when I published my first novel). Working on the second one which I hope to have ready by year’s end and then 2017 is the year I’ll dedicate some real time to marketing (using what you, Nick Stephenson, and Mark Dawson have taught me). I wish you continued success (and I do enjoy your ARKANE series so keep writing).
Joanna Penn says
Thanks Francois – and yes, I think 99% of authors are in the “non-breakout” category 🙂 but it’s still possible to make a good living … and getting better 🙂
Kent Sanders says
Wow, Joanna, this is so incredibly help. THANK YOU for your writing, advice, and service to authors like myself. Just today, I was excited to get “Business for Authors” and “How to Make a Living with Your Writing” from Amazon (print). Looking forward to diving in. 🙂
Joanna Penn says
Thanks – I hope you find the books useful 🙂
Melissa says
I really appreciate seeing actual data and find it very inspiring. I find it great that quite a lot of indie authors are quite happily making good incomes from writing without being a ‘bestseller’ or needing to make millions (millions would be nice too, obviously!). I think having an entrepreneurial mindset and looking at writing as a real job pays off!