Self-publishing industry though still in nascent stages in India is gaining popularity world-wide especially US. It has grown from a niche segment to almost an industry in itself. It has now changed the way publishers treat authors and even how they market their books.

The single major reason for this has been the rising popularity of eBooks. Publishing an eBook is as easy as posting a blog, and as costly as again posting a blog. So, an author can easily publish an eBook for zero direct costs. He will have to market the book himself (or hire someone) and thus indirectly incur costs. Anyway back to facts on self-publishing which might blow you away.

 

Nearly every third book sold on Amazon Kindle store is self-published. Amazon remains the largest market for eBooks by a large margin, hence can be taken as an industry benchmark.
As a corollary Indie authors are earning 40 cents out of every dollar earner for e-Book.
Self-published books is having significant market share in all genres not just Fantasy/ Paranormal.
Every fourth book on Top lists is by an indie author.
Non-fiction books command higher prices than fiction books.
Longer books sell more. In fact, bestselling books tend to be over 100,000 words.
Series sell better than single books if you are an indie author. Simply because after the first book you learn how to market your book. Series also establishes that you are not a one book wonder.
Self-published books are increasing at an exponential pace – high double digits.
The percentage of women authors who are self-publishing is significantly higher than in traditional publishing.
Global nature of eBooks – your books could be sold over the globe with a single click of a button. (Even my book The Crooked Road was read in four different continents Asia, Europe, Australia and North America)

These are based on the data available from Amazon and other internet sources. What are your thoughts? Any other interesting stats you have come across regarding the self-publishing industry. Share it in the comments below and I will add it in the post.

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