Is It Worth Self Publishing A Book?

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Yes, for me self-publishing a book was worth it. A book you write once keeps earning for years, and I still get comments and emails on books I put out 5 years ago. But it won’t be a full-time salary at first, and the books that sell are the ones that are optimized. Below: what the numbers say, why I stayed motivated, and the optimization steps that make the difference.

Is it worth self-publishing a book?

If you wrote a book and wonder whether to publish it, you may be thinking of traditional publishing. That is hard without a following. Even if a publisher accepts it, royalties are low and they probably won’t market it much. The Authors Guild model contract lists 7.5% of list price on trade paperbacks and 25% of net on ebooks (Authors Guild). See is it better to self-publish? for the comparison.

Or you may wonder whether to publish at all, because self-publishing seems complicated. When I started I expected it to be hard, with taxes and registrations to work out. Then I watched videos and read books and found an easy path. I made a lot of mistakes, but it doesn’t have to be difficult when you break it into steps.

What can you expect to earn?

Not a salary right away. The Alliance of Independent Authors surveyed authors who spend more than half their working time on writing and publishing. For 2022 the median was $12,749, and the average was over $80,000, pulled up by a few high earners (ALLi, 17-Apr-23). It’s a self-selected survey from an advocacy group. Wanting a full-time income from the first book is unreasonable.

On KDP, Kindle ebooks priced $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com earn 70% (KDP list price requirements), and paperbacks pay 60% of list price at $9.99 and above, minus printing cost (KDP paperback royalty).

What does one book actually earn?

It depends on the price and the format. Take a Kindle ebook at $4.99 on Amazon.com. It is inside the 70% band of $2.99 to $12.99 that KDP uses from 7-Jul-26 (KDP list price requirements), so you earn about $3.50 less delivery costs on each sale. Sell 20 a month and that is around $70 a month for a book you wrote once.

The 2025 Written Word Media survey of 1,346 indie authors shows how it adds up. About 80% of authors with one to three books earned under $100 a month, and authors with 25 or more books had a median of about $3,000 a month (Written Word Media, 2-Dec-25). The survey is self-reported. For one book the answer is usually “a little, for a long time”, and for a library of books it grows.

Why was it worth it for me?

The feeling. Even if a book earns only $2 a sale on Kindle or $5 on a paperback, you did the work a month ago or years ago and money still comes in. That alone motivated me. Each book you add piles on top of the others, and the money keeps flowing from the earliest ones. After the first book you also have the momentum of knowing it is doable. If you wonder whether you have missed the boat, read is it too late to self-publish?

What else does it give you besides money?

Your ideas in front of an audience. Gardening tricks, dog habits, your religion or your politics: self-publishing is a way to reach a large audience with those ideas and make a profit.

A way to sell other products. You can bring traffic to your website or products, and I have seen people sell programs and other products through their books and make even more from those. Amazon’s rules limit what you can link to inside a book, so check KDP’s content guidelines before you add links.

Clearer thinking and better habits. Writing a book makes you organize your thoughts, and moving through the steps every day builds a routine.

Business basics. You see money coming in and costs going out, and as income grows you can pay accountants and hire writers, cover designers and tool providers. If you want to work from home, I don’t know a better business to start. Sales also move with the market, so read how to protect your book sales when the market slows.

A route to a traditional deal, with a warning. Showing an audience helps if you want a traditional publisher. But Jane Friedman argues against treating self-publishing as a stepping stone: she calls self-publishing first and landing a publisher later one of the worst approaches in the community right now (updated 18-Feb-25). Self-publish because you want to be a self-publisher.

Do you have to sell only on Amazon?

No. Amazon was the top revenue source for 83% of authors in the 2025 Written Word Media survey of 1,346 indie authors, down from 91% in 2023, and about 30% now sell direct to readers (Written Word Media, 2-Dec-25). The survey is self-reported. Starting on Kindle is fine, and you can add other stores and your own sales later. Because you keep your rights when you self-publish, the book can also become a print edition or an audiobook later.

How do you make a book earn more than average?

Optimize it. Many authors don’t, which is one reason so many earn little. If you’ve already written the book, don’t rewrite it. Publish it and learn for the next one. For the next book:

• Pick a topic people search for, where books sell well and there are few of them.
• Make the title match those keywords.
• Get a great cover and description.
• Make the table of contents match what readers expect from the best sellers in the category, and edit the manuscript.
• Run ads against it. See Amazon ads for authors.
• Put it in as many formats and with as many distributors as possible.

Do it again for the next book. Once the money comes in, you can pay others to take on some of these tasks.

What have you found? Tell me in the comments, I respond to all of them. If you want help optimizing your book, book a free 25-minute discovery call.

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