Excerpt

There is a common belief that artists, including authors, make very little money. To explore that assumption, in 2023, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) commissioned the world's first Indie Author Income Survey, focused specifically on self-published authors. We found that indie authors earn more than those who are traditionally published, and this data was confirmed later that year by a survey conducted by the Authors Guild of traditionally and indie-published authors.

In addition to the author survey, which ALLi will repeat every two years, ALLi also compiles the Big Indie Author Data Drop, which brings together facts and figures from across the self-publishing industry. This type of information is a vital resource for authors making strategic and tactical decisions about their publishing business. All these reports are available at https://www.allianceindependentau-

thors.org/facts.

Regardless of how developed or extensive your publishing business is, following these two guidelines is critical:

When you decide to self-publish, you become a publisher, and publishing is a business. A business owner invests money to make more money, so you'll do best if you think less about how much something costs and think instead about how much return you can expect from that investment.

Value your time as much as your money.

Although you can often avoid making a financial investment by investing time instead, both have value; one might argue that your time is your most valuable commodity. Paying for assistance or a tool might yield better financial results than trying to do everything yourself.

The indie authors who are succeeding financially are those who are treating their writing and publishing work as the business it is, and who bring a healthy money mindset to their work. In this article, we share tips for the steps authors can take at every level to optimize their business for financial success.