Unleashing the Power of an Independent Personal Brand: Who Makes More Money - Indie or Traditionally Published Authors?

As a nonfiction author who owns a teaching or speaking business, you have likely considered the merits of publishing independently versus pursuing a traditional publishing deal. One aspect that may be weighing on your mind is the potential for financial success. Which path will yield greater profits?

There are two ways to answer this question. Let’s call them the classic, boring way - and the much more relevant and surprising fact way.

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Now back to the topic: Who makes more money, indies or trads?

The classic, boring answer - I’ll keep it short, I promise!

Independent Authors, or "Indies," have grown in popularity over the past decade. With the rise of self-publishing platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark, writers have more control over their work than ever before.

Indies retain the rights to their work, set their own prices, and keep a higher percentage of their profits. Plus, they don't have to wait for a publisher to accept their submission, which can take months or even years. Not to mention, it takes years before the book is even in the market, doing its magic for the author's teaching business.

On the other hand, traditionally published authors receive an advance from their publisher, which can provide a financial cushion while they write their book. Publishers also provide editorial and marketing support, which can increase the book's visibility and sales. However, the author gives up some control over the final product, including cover design, pricing, and distribution. They also receive a lower percentage of the profits, typically between 8-15%.

So, who makes more money - Indies or traditionally published authors?

It depends on several factors. I am not gonna bore you with many words on this because we all know the REAL potential is at the backend of the book, in what the book can do for your business in terms of increased leads, partnerships, premium clients, speaking opportunities, etc.

The advance, the share of the cost you’d have to pay, the royalty shares you’ll get... these are all just minor factors compared to the long-term increased profits at the backend of your book.

What really matters are two factors (both as an indie and trad author):

• How strong is your personal brand and marketing platform?
• How much effort are you willing to invest in to marketing your book?

But before addressing those factors, let me give you the less boring answer.

The surprising fact-based answer: Who earns more book royalties?

A survey conducted by CREATe Centre in 2022 among 60,000 UK authors revealed a rapid decline in author income.?In fact, UK author income in 2022 decreased by 60% since 2006 and 38% since 2018. Canada was, in 2018, down 27% since 2015, while the US dropped 42% from 2009 to 2018. Only Australia was up 3% between 2015 and 2022.

I know! This is depressing news, isn’t it?

Luckily, general data isn't really useful when it comes to book publishing. First of all, authors are sometimes defined quite broadly. For example, fiction authors are included, which is not relevant to you. And almost all reporting in book publishing is based on books sold in retail only (not books sold directly by the author), and usually don’t include self-published authors. This is also the case for the aforementioned survey.

However, the tendency for traditionally published books is undeniable; author income is rapidly declining.?

As a response to the off-putting disclosures in the CREATe report, ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors, conducted the world's first independent global survey of more than 2,000 authors and found that self-published authors earn significantly more than writers with third-party publishers.

Uplifting news!?

Self published authors:

• Median income app. 50% higher than trad published
• The average indie author's income was over $80,000
• More than 2,000 authors have surpassed $100,000 in “royalties” from Amazon KDP in 2022
• 45% made over $20k?and 25% earned $50-100k

It should be noted that the survey included self-publishing authors who spent 50% or more of their time on their publishing activities and that the majority were fiction authors. More than half were from the US, but also the UK was well represented with 21% of respondents.?

But there is definitely proof that indie authors make more money than traditional authors!

And this brings us back to the only two factors that really matter:

• Personal brand strength
• Marketing effort

For the sake of not making this article too long, I’ll focus on the first

How strong is your personal brand and marketing platform?

No matter how great your book is, no matter how you choose to publish, independently or pursuing a traditional publishing deal, the key to financial author success is a strong personal brand.

But what comes first? The hen or the egg?

With an already strong personal brand (loyal customers, excellent reputation, large amount of social media followers who respond to your calls to action), you are in a strong position to ORGANICALLY sell more books.

There are all sorts of ways to utilise such strong marketing platform as a self publishing author - and it is also a lot easier to get picked up by a traditional publisher, should you for some reason want that (you most likely don’t).

For sure, you could make more money from a book than a person with no significant marketing platform.

So what if you are that person who is still building your brand? How can you optimise profits on your book?

Well, there are just as many opportunities including:

• Using your book to build your following. A combination of paid advertising and a strong book funnel that leads to ie. smaller tripwire products or premium services can quickly help build your email list and generate profits in your business (which you can then use to fund more paid campaigns and really get the wheels going). You might even consider giving your book away as a free PDF in this strategy and put a lot less emphasis on how it ranks in major bookstores!
• You might, like many of my 1:1 clients, be fully booked for B2B work, providing training and talks in companies. Some of my clients sell hundreds of books each time they close a deal with a company.
• If you are a public speaker or keynote speaker, you’ll likely be able to increase your prices by 15-25% when becoming an author. Furthermore, you’ll be able to get booked solid and win many more gigs over competitors who can’t offer to include a book to members of the audience. You’ll be able to use your book as a business card and allow event managers to get a really good feeling of the opinions, knowledge and tools the audience will be presented. In other words, credibility and authority are a very effective profit generator!

What do you think? I’d love to know—and to see how you plan to put your book into action.

Message me and let me know!

?? The Short Rebel News ??

• Published Authority, our mentorship programme, has re-opened for enrolment. Book a call here to see if you qualify.
• We are only planning one book writing retreat in 2024. It will again take place in Nerja, close to Malaga in Spain. You can still join us! (end of May 2024)
• I am hosting a meet-up for self publishers in Newcastle on June 17, 2024, 4pm. I’d love to see you there! It’s the day before Atomicon, hosted by my good friends Andrew & Pete happens. You should check out their event!