Pareto Principle in Publishing

Even “This American Life” is going the Indie. Route. (Indie distribution, that is). Traditional gatekeepers are holding less and less of the “premium” ground.

Seems the people who are not actively going Indie are at least talking about it.

At some point there will be a showdown between the big publishers and Amazon. Already Hachette and Amazon are flipping tables, the barkeep is preparing a bucket of sawdust, and the rest of us are giving them space in the middle of the saloon while eying the exits.

But as with most art, it’s the minority who succeed, right? Apparently most books only sell one copy, ever? (In which case even my nerdiest non-fiction books were a stellar success, whoop!).

Turns out more people sell copies in the self-published realm than you might think, and judging from this thread here there is some justification in being optimistic provided you can put out a series of books rather than rely on hitting big with your first.

In my own case, I can afford to be patient, but I do want to feel like people have really read, valued, and enjoyed my work. That means not giving everything away, and that means I have to invest in covers and editing, which in turn means I don’t want to make a loss on my creations. It’s a business even when it is a hobby, and that’s ok, it’s part of being an author now.

I probably need to start writing …