As an Indie author who has published two books, I have kind of given up on the idea that I will ever make any money. I share your view of Amazon. I haven’t found my audience either here or in the wide distribution world, although I distribute through IngramSpark POD. I’ve made the most money through direct sales. My first Novel, published in 2023 has won a couple of awards. I advertised it through FB, Amazon, and Google. Tried to garner reviews, but failed. I think on Amazon it has 20! I know it’s a good book, as is my flailing second novel, so clearly quality is not the determining factor. Selling books is just tough! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts! I feel the same about financial gains—while I would love to live off my art, It’s not something that can happen quickly, especially if I don’t want to play the game where the rules are in favor of the big distribution monoliths. Still, I would rather reach a few people who genuinely like it than be a flash in the pan whose books end up clogging little neighborhood libraries for years to come…also a note to your idea of quality.
The real wealth is knowing I can write books, they’re good, and I want to keep writing. That’s worth a great deal as I scaffold my confidence and business acumen.
As an Indie author who has published two books, I have kind of given up on the idea that I will ever make any money. I share your view of Amazon. I haven’t found my audience either here or in the wide distribution world, although I distribute through IngramSpark POD. I’ve made the most money through direct sales. My first Novel, published in 2023 has won a couple of awards. I advertised it through FB, Amazon, and Google. Tried to garner reviews, but failed. I think on Amazon it has 20! I know it’s a good book, as is my flailing second novel, so clearly quality is not the determining factor. Selling books is just tough! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts! I feel the same about financial gains—while I would love to live off my art, It’s not something that can happen quickly, especially if I don’t want to play the game where the rules are in favor of the big distribution monoliths. Still, I would rather reach a few people who genuinely like it than be a flash in the pan whose books end up clogging little neighborhood libraries for years to come…also a note to your idea of quality.
The real wealth is knowing I can write books, they’re good, and I want to keep writing. That’s worth a great deal as I scaffold my confidence and business acumen.