Are There Self Publishing Success Stories?

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Yes, there are plenty of self-publishing success stories. But most authors never become one, and the reason is rarely talent. Wondering what success would take in sales? My book sales calculator turns an income goal into copies sold per month. Here is what the numbers say and what separates the two groups.

Are there self-publishing success stories?

Yes, a lot. Search for them and you will find a list of authors who made it. Some were later signed by traditional publishers. Others preferred the profit margin of self-publishing and stayed. If you wonder who pays you when you self-publish, see do authors work for a company. For a starting list of names, see 15 famous self-published authors.

When I started, I followed people who were reporting very large monthly incomes from self-publishing, and one of them was writing on topics I cared about. Jumping in was an easy decision. What I found next is that success is a lot harder than it looks. Lots of people put books out and many of them don’t sell, so they get discouraged.

Success means different things. For some it is a full-time living from books. For others it is a stronger brand that brings clients or jobs.

What are some Kindle success stories?

I’m one example. My first book was not a success. Over time I learned what makes books sell, and across my 230 books I have now sold more than 50,000 copies. Two other stories I know of are both exceptional:

1. A friend who followed some of the same strategies told me he made $40,000 in a single month, I think a December a few years back, with Minecraft books. Minecraft is protected by Microsoft, so those books eventually ran into trouble. He did not rely on Kindle alone: he put the books out as paperbacks and in other formats too.
2. Steve Scott, whose habit books made him one of the best known Kindle authors. In a 2014 interview, summarized on Niche Pursuits (page updated 30-Jan-20), he reported a best month of $60,000 in Kindle ebook sales, and $30,000 to $50,000 a month in the period before.

Those are peak months from several years ago, not what a typical author earns.

How much do self-published authors really earn?

Less than the success stories suggest. The Authors Guild surveyed 5,699 published authors about their 2022 income. Full-time self-published authors had a median of $12,800 from their books. Across all published authors, full-time and part-time, the median book income was just $2,000 (Authors Guild, 27-Sep-23).

A median is the middle: half earned more and half earned less. These authors responded to a survey, so they are probably more committed than the average person who uploads one book. I have seen the figure of about $1,000 a year quoted for the average Amazon author, but I could not find a source for it, so I would treat it as a rough guide. Either way, it is not a living, and it is a lot of work for a book to earn so little.

A newer survey says the same thing. In the Written Word Media 2025 indie author survey (published 2-Dec-25), 44% of authors earned $100 or less a month, and about 80% of authors with one to three books were under $100 a month. Authors with 25 or more books had a median of about $3,000 a month, and over 40% of them earned $5,000 or more. These are self-reported answers, but they show the same thing I see: income follows the number of good books and the time you stay at it.

What do the successful ones have in common?

I call many of the famous ones lottery-winner authors: the first book that seemed to become a best seller overnight. Often they had been practicing for a long time. They wrote books that barely sold before one took off, and they were following good strategies the whole way.

The pattern I see is that they put themselves where sales are being made. They learn from people who are testing things. I can’t name a single successful self-publisher who got there apart from groups where people discuss ads, covers, descriptions and keywords.

How can I join the success stories?

1. Pick a topic with readers. I use KDSpy to find topics where people already buy books but there are few books. A market with demand and little competition is a big part of it.
2. Join the groups. My YouTube channel covers the key strategies, and there are many groups on Facebook and elsewhere where people compare what worked and what failed. Ask questions, answer questions, and learn the skills.
3. Start simple. If someone wants to sell you a thousand-dollar program that promises to do it all for you, I would not go for it.

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The survey’s own pattern is worth taking seriously: the more books you have out, the more the income grows. That is why I tell new authors to plan a small series or a set of related books on one topic, and not to judge the whole plan by the first book.

Read 7 tips from successful self-published authors and finding an Amazon KDP mentor next.

If you would rather have me look at your book and your plan directly, book a free 25-minute discovery call and we will talk it through.

Have you beaten $1,000 a year as a self-published author? Tell me in the comments.

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