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The such low royalties make folks seriously consider self-publishing if you think you can get any sales. (And if you do not need a copy-editor.)

So I have only around 150 sales of my book (see notes at https://andrewpwheeler.com/2024/07/02/some-notes-on-self-pub...). I make around ~$30 though net (average between on-demand print and epub). So my measly sales are about the same as the advance here (not clear if this was ever paid out, presume they would get it back if it was paid out).

If you really think you can sell thousands of copies the economics of it really should hit you.

I get going through a publisher will increase sales, but if you have a popular platform already to advertise it (like a blog or other popular social media), I just don't get it.

1 comments

This is absolutely true, speaking as someone who has both self-published and also published with a big publisher. Each choice has pros and cons.

In my case, I self-published and sold a book for several years, and then published an updated version with O'Reilly.

I decided to do that because I came to realize people judge self-publish books as less vetted and lower quality.

That may be often true. But in many cases, a self-published book can be much better than those released by a former publisher. I certainly believe it was true in my case.

But in the end, I decided my highest best opportunity was to go with a well-regarded publisher, for the authority that would bring.

And it changed things. People treat me differently now, like they consider me more of an authority. Even though it's essentially the same book; it just has an O'Reilly logo on the cover now.

Whether that should be the case is up for debate...

But it absolutely made people listen more seriously to my message. and I believe it has massively increased the positive impact of that book on the world.

Financially, I think it's been about even. For me it was worth the tradeoff for other reasons, but I don't think that is always the case for every author and every book.