A good article - but I think you have left out a very important revenue stream -- Kickstarters. I've run a number of them and I've earned around $950,000 from them. Fees are just 5% to Kickstarter and 2.9% (+ $0.30) for CC processing so that kind of direct selling leaves a lot of margin for authors.
Can I ask how big of an audience contributed to that $950,000? (Was it from 1,000 contributors, 10,000?) And where that audience follows you (is it Twitter, a newsletter, etc.)? Thank you so much.
The $950,000 was spread over multiple KS's and of course there are duplicate backers (although I should note that about 65% of the backers on my first KS were new readers to me and not existing fans.I can't say off the top of my head how many unique users there are but I could pull some numbers on that. As for audience follows - I have a lot of subscribers to my newsletter but on many occasions the KS don't get announced there (because I only send one or two a year. For instance on my most recent KS there was no newsletter announcement (although I will send a newsletter allowing for "late backing" and that should bring in a good number more orders.
- KS #1 - 861 backers
- KS #2 - 1,750 backers
- KS #3 - 2,075 backers
- KS #4 - 2,553 backers
- KS #5 - 3,120 backers
- KS #6 - 3,574 backers
- KS #7 - 822 - but that wasn't for a book it was for slipcases of an existing title and since that Kickstarter I've sold 3,000 of those slipcases and almost all those orders are singles.
- KS #8 - 3,6,92
- KS #9 - 3,799
- KS #10 - is a "sister KS" where two are closely related and it had 4,1,57, although there is some cross over.
I should also note that for most KS I have "after the KS" late backers. For instance for my most recently fulfilled KS there were 3,799 backers but with "late backers" that number rose to 4,651 when all was said and done.
I do post KS's to Twitter - 13.3K followers so not very much - I have no instagram or Tik Tok following.
Yes. My first Kickstarter had 862 backers, my most recent 3,692. I've run 9 of them so far. I usually pick up a few hundred more backers "after the fact" through BakckerKit of Pledgebox - those are systems I use to fulfill the Kickstarters and they have a way for people to pre-order through their software. I don't have a very big audience through social media (such as Twitter (11,900) and Facebook (971)). Those aren't venues I use much. I'm more active on Goodreads (85,387) and my newsletter list is around 20,000. But I email very infrequently (1 - 3 times a year).
MJS!!!!!!!!!!! Riyria is my favorite fantasy series of all time!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my little article. You are right, I didn't talk about Kickstarter. The scope of this article is small compared to how large the landscape is for earning revenue as an author. But thank you so much for sharing your stats! I'll have to dive into Kickstarter and other crowdfunding models in a later article.
Now pardon me while I completely freak out that you even read my newsletter. Thank you for being here.... (from a big fan who is a big fan of your female characters.)
Glad you have enjoyed the stories. The reason I brought up Kickstarter is you talked about "the creator economy" and whether it could work for fiction authors. - And I think it's an important tool in that toolbox. I'll also add that authors (whether traditional or self-published) should do some direct-selling to readers. Not only do you make more money per sale (the "middlemen" can take 50% - 90% off the top), but it leads to more engaged readers because of the personal attention.
You are writing good content - so yeah, I'll continue to read your newsletter. If you enjoy my female characters, you really must pickup the Legends of the First Empire series (if you've not read those books already). They are set in the same world as the Riyria tales but they occur several thousand years before the time of Royce, Hadrian, Arista, and Thrace/Modina). The Legends series has a large ensemble cast and the most prominent characters are women.
Adding it to my list right now. Thank you! (Fantasy tends to not do great with female characters in my experience, unless you go to YA, so I really appreciate that as a reader!) And you are right, personal attention makes a big difference. I did after all, call my entire family to tell them that you commented on my article and it completely made my day (my dad and sister both read Riyria too so luckily I had people who were just as excited as me.) And now I'll definitely grab Legends of the First Empire.
I definitely plan on doing some direct selling as part of my subscription period, and I plan to write follow-up articles on other alternative book funding methods so I will include the data you provided about Kickstarter (as well as some of the other Patreon and Kindle Unlimited success stories). Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me!
Oh you should love Legends - while Riyria has some great women in it (Arista, Gwen, Thrace/Modina) it is a bromance so the men have a bit more focus. I went "the other way" with Legends - wasn't intentional I originally planned for an ensemble cast with equal number of men and women - and while I did do that the women were SO MUCH more interesting than the men, they definitely are in the spotlight and the men are taking a bit of a back seat - a decision that not a small number of male readers have chided me for.
You are very welcome for the shared experience sharing - I only recently found substack and plan on doing some of my own soon.
If you want to know more about Kickstarter then go over and check out Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smiths' blogs. (Best to focus on KKR, but skim read DWS.) They talk about kickstarter a lot and even have a course about how to use kickstarter.
KKR and DWS have always been a good resource regarding publishing. I've backed a number of their Kickstarters - not so much because I wanted "the book" but because I wanted to support them.
This was a very informative post - as a writer myself some of the information was disheartening - especially as I am in the throes of my next book. But on the other hand, learning about new platforms and what others are doing is interesting! Thanks for all the effort you put into the article! What was the result of your experiment? Do you have a follow-up article that I can take a look at?
That's how I felt. It was disheartening at first, but then it was empowering to realize I could look at other options. And yes! I gave a Ted Talk about these ideas after the fact! Here it is if you want to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqQyw49SIk
Thank you. Very interesting video - I'm considering doing this myself. I will let you know how it goes if you are interested. I write in the nonfiction category so I am interested to see if it works out
This is a fantastic breakdown! You're right that the challenge stems with authors who don't write the genres that are popular on Royal Road or Wattpad.
The benefits of starting somewhere with a existing audience are huge, even if you attempt to move them somewhere else to pay for content.
Now we need to find the film version of this too 😅 we have the same shitshow with streaming platforms and even YouTube. But maybe it’s sharing it here!
This is a super thoughtful post, and I love your newsletter, but I also feel that some of the metrics are off. The Bookstat citation you used includes all books, not just new ones, right? I mean, I’ll say this- I have a book under contract with the largest indie press and I got that (paid) deal without any real social media following or public presence. I agree that the publishing industry needs to be disrupted…and also that it already is disrupted. I agree that Substack can be a great model, but that it’s also saturated. You have a super successful newsletter , but you also have to advertise continuously to get your voice out there, and not everyone can afford to do that. I personally love my Substacks, and am working on getting a larger readership, but a lot of the prime advertising space is already taken, and what’s left is so pricey!
There’s something left out here, too. Publishing a book with a reputable publisher isn’t necessarily about how much money I’ll make. It also opens doors. To teaching jobs, possibly more book deals, etc. I feel like you’re really writing off an entire, very important, industry. My book will go through rigorous fact checking and legal stuff that won’t happen on Substack. My publisher is one that I truly respect, my fellow authors are people I also respect. The truth is that there are multitudinous ways to get our work out there. You’re choosing this way, but that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t try and get their books published, or that that’s impossible. It IS possible. And every single person I know buys and reads books, including myself. I also listen to audiobooks, a market not addressed here.
Also, many books are optioned for film and for Netflix etc!
I truly admire what you are doing with this newsletter but I see a lot of negativity towards traditional publishing when there is a lot of good there too. Just like there is on Substack. Your experiment is working for you and that is totally awesome. I hope the momentum continues! And I hope every writer who works their butt off sees the success they deserve, no matter which path they choose to get there.
Very interesting article, however, I'm not sure why you omitted audiobooks. Most people that I know, have books read to them via Audible or some other service. Do you have the numbers for that? I'm fairly certain that there are many book series written that get more "reads" via audiobooks than paper books.
If you look at the very first chart in this article, you can see the audiobook numbers. While the audiobook category is growing rapidly, the size of the market is still much smaller than print and digital books. Roughly 200 to 300 thousand sales vs. 2 to 3 million!
A good article - but I think you have left out a very important revenue stream -- Kickstarters. I've run a number of them and I've earned around $950,000 from them. Fees are just 5% to Kickstarter and 2.9% (+ $0.30) for CC processing so that kind of direct selling leaves a lot of margin for authors.
Can I ask how big of an audience contributed to that $950,000? (Was it from 1,000 contributors, 10,000?) And where that audience follows you (is it Twitter, a newsletter, etc.)? Thank you so much.
The $950,000 was spread over multiple KS's and of course there are duplicate backers (although I should note that about 65% of the backers on my first KS were new readers to me and not existing fans.I can't say off the top of my head how many unique users there are but I could pull some numbers on that. As for audience follows - I have a lot of subscribers to my newsletter but on many occasions the KS don't get announced there (because I only send one or two a year. For instance on my most recent KS there was no newsletter announcement (although I will send a newsletter allowing for "late backing" and that should bring in a good number more orders.
- KS #1 - 861 backers
- KS #2 - 1,750 backers
- KS #3 - 2,075 backers
- KS #4 - 2,553 backers
- KS #5 - 3,120 backers
- KS #6 - 3,574 backers
- KS #7 - 822 - but that wasn't for a book it was for slipcases of an existing title and since that Kickstarter I've sold 3,000 of those slipcases and almost all those orders are singles.
- KS #8 - 3,6,92
- KS #9 - 3,799
- KS #10 - is a "sister KS" where two are closely related and it had 4,1,57, although there is some cross over.
I should also note that for most KS I have "after the KS" late backers. For instance for my most recently fulfilled KS there were 3,799 backers but with "late backers" that number rose to 4,651 when all was said and done.
I do post KS's to Twitter - 13.3K followers so not very much - I have no instagram or Tik Tok following.
Yes. My first Kickstarter had 862 backers, my most recent 3,692. I've run 9 of them so far. I usually pick up a few hundred more backers "after the fact" through BakckerKit of Pledgebox - those are systems I use to fulfill the Kickstarters and they have a way for people to pre-order through their software. I don't have a very big audience through social media (such as Twitter (11,900) and Facebook (971)). Those aren't venues I use much. I'm more active on Goodreads (85,387) and my newsletter list is around 20,000. But I email very infrequently (1 - 3 times a year).
MJS!!!!!!!!!!! Riyria is my favorite fantasy series of all time!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my little article. You are right, I didn't talk about Kickstarter. The scope of this article is small compared to how large the landscape is for earning revenue as an author. But thank you so much for sharing your stats! I'll have to dive into Kickstarter and other crowdfunding models in a later article.
Now pardon me while I completely freak out that you even read my newsletter. Thank you for being here.... (from a big fan who is a big fan of your female characters.)
Glad you have enjoyed the stories. The reason I brought up Kickstarter is you talked about "the creator economy" and whether it could work for fiction authors. - And I think it's an important tool in that toolbox. I'll also add that authors (whether traditional or self-published) should do some direct-selling to readers. Not only do you make more money per sale (the "middlemen" can take 50% - 90% off the top), but it leads to more engaged readers because of the personal attention.
You are writing good content - so yeah, I'll continue to read your newsletter. If you enjoy my female characters, you really must pickup the Legends of the First Empire series (if you've not read those books already). They are set in the same world as the Riyria tales but they occur several thousand years before the time of Royce, Hadrian, Arista, and Thrace/Modina). The Legends series has a large ensemble cast and the most prominent characters are women.
Adding it to my list right now. Thank you! (Fantasy tends to not do great with female characters in my experience, unless you go to YA, so I really appreciate that as a reader!) And you are right, personal attention makes a big difference. I did after all, call my entire family to tell them that you commented on my article and it completely made my day (my dad and sister both read Riyria too so luckily I had people who were just as excited as me.) And now I'll definitely grab Legends of the First Empire.
I definitely plan on doing some direct selling as part of my subscription period, and I plan to write follow-up articles on other alternative book funding methods so I will include the data you provided about Kickstarter (as well as some of the other Patreon and Kindle Unlimited success stories). Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me!
Oh you should love Legends - while Riyria has some great women in it (Arista, Gwen, Thrace/Modina) it is a bromance so the men have a bit more focus. I went "the other way" with Legends - wasn't intentional I originally planned for an ensemble cast with equal number of men and women - and while I did do that the women were SO MUCH more interesting than the men, they definitely are in the spotlight and the men are taking a bit of a back seat - a decision that not a small number of male readers have chided me for.
You are very welcome for the shared experience sharing - I only recently found substack and plan on doing some of my own soon.
If you want to know more about Kickstarter then go over and check out Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smiths' blogs. (Best to focus on KKR, but skim read DWS.) They talk about kickstarter a lot and even have a course about how to use kickstarter.
KKR and DWS have always been a good resource regarding publishing. I've backed a number of their Kickstarters - not so much because I wanted "the book" but because I wanted to support them.
Very insightful! Perhaps the greatest hope for us authors is precisely platforms like Substack.
Not sure why I was recommended a 3 year old article! Wow it's like looking into the past. hello 3 years ago. How are the masks working for y'all ?
Amazing article and promising that authors will finally have a space take their careers to the next level. In time, of course 😊 nothing is instant
Good information. I'm not sure what nonfiction niche would persuade people to part with $9 a month for one writer?
Probably business related. That audience has more money at their disposal.
This was a very informative post - as a writer myself some of the information was disheartening - especially as I am in the throes of my next book. But on the other hand, learning about new platforms and what others are doing is interesting! Thanks for all the effort you put into the article! What was the result of your experiment? Do you have a follow-up article that I can take a look at?
That's how I felt. It was disheartening at first, but then it was empowering to realize I could look at other options. And yes! I gave a Ted Talk about these ideas after the fact! Here it is if you want to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqQyw49SIk
Thank you. Very interesting video - I'm considering doing this myself. I will let you know how it goes if you are interested. I write in the nonfiction category so I am interested to see if it works out
This is a fantastic breakdown! You're right that the challenge stems with authors who don't write the genres that are popular on Royal Road or Wattpad.
The benefits of starting somewhere with a existing audience are huge, even if you attempt to move them somewhere else to pay for content.
Totally! I've been thinking about that a lot as I write my next novel. Can I place it where there is a market first?
yeah, but it's an addiction, an obsession, which makes the demons happy, so I'm gonna do it anyway.
Neither is trying to find a literary agent…!
Hi. I really got a lot out of this article. Have things changed much in the past 3 years?
Only in that Substack became an even better platform for writers since then!
Now we need to find the film version of this too 😅 we have the same shitshow with streaming platforms and even YouTube. But maybe it’s sharing it here!
I adore your books!
This is a super thoughtful post, and I love your newsletter, but I also feel that some of the metrics are off. The Bookstat citation you used includes all books, not just new ones, right? I mean, I’ll say this- I have a book under contract with the largest indie press and I got that (paid) deal without any real social media following or public presence. I agree that the publishing industry needs to be disrupted…and also that it already is disrupted. I agree that Substack can be a great model, but that it’s also saturated. You have a super successful newsletter , but you also have to advertise continuously to get your voice out there, and not everyone can afford to do that. I personally love my Substacks, and am working on getting a larger readership, but a lot of the prime advertising space is already taken, and what’s left is so pricey!
There’s something left out here, too. Publishing a book with a reputable publisher isn’t necessarily about how much money I’ll make. It also opens doors. To teaching jobs, possibly more book deals, etc. I feel like you’re really writing off an entire, very important, industry. My book will go through rigorous fact checking and legal stuff that won’t happen on Substack. My publisher is one that I truly respect, my fellow authors are people I also respect. The truth is that there are multitudinous ways to get our work out there. You’re choosing this way, but that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t try and get their books published, or that that’s impossible. It IS possible. And every single person I know buys and reads books, including myself. I also listen to audiobooks, a market not addressed here.
Also, many books are optioned for film and for Netflix etc!
I truly admire what you are doing with this newsletter but I see a lot of negativity towards traditional publishing when there is a lot of good there too. Just like there is on Substack. Your experiment is working for you and that is totally awesome. I hope the momentum continues! And I hope every writer who works their butt off sees the success they deserve, no matter which path they choose to get there.
This is a fascinating discussion -- thank you! I do believe that serial storytelling could really take off with the right platform.
I agree!
Very interesting article, however, I'm not sure why you omitted audiobooks. Most people that I know, have books read to them via Audible or some other service. Do you have the numbers for that? I'm fairly certain that there are many book series written that get more "reads" via audiobooks than paper books.
If you look at the very first chart in this article, you can see the audiobook numbers. While the audiobook category is growing rapidly, the size of the market is still much smaller than print and digital books. Roughly 200 to 300 thousand sales vs. 2 to 3 million!
Ahh, thank you. Very interesting data and analysis.
Great article Elle - so in depth
Thank you!