There are writers making millions self-publishing romance novels. (Not many make millions, but the number who work full-time and earn more than they would in a day job is not small.)
The Romance Writers of America industry group has always been well ahead of the curve on self-pub - ironically further ahead than the Science Fiction and Fantasy industry group.
The big problem with self-pub is marketing and audience building. (Fifty Shades started as a marketing exercise, written by a professional marketer.)
Most self-pub has similar problems, including tech self-pub.
Publishers used to do the marketing for writers. Now they expect writers to do it. Most writers have worked out that if they're going to do the marketing anyway, giving up more than 80% of the income in return for an initial advance may not be a great deal.
Unfortunately marketing is hard, and not many people are good at it. Especially writers, who tend to think all they have to do is put the book up on Amazon, mention it on Facebook, and wait.
So the intersection of "can write", "can market", and "can finish a book and not just think about writing one" is a tiny percentage of the total aspiring author demographic.
> Fifty Shades started as a marketing exercise, written by a professional marketer.
Really? I thought Fifty Shades started as a porny fanfic of the Sparkly Vampire book(s?), and a variety of sources (via Wikipedia) seem to back that up with references going back to before it was published.
The Romance Writers of America industry group has always been well ahead of the curve on self-pub - ironically further ahead than the Science Fiction and Fantasy industry group.
The big problem with self-pub is marketing and audience building. (Fifty Shades started as a marketing exercise, written by a professional marketer.)
Most self-pub has similar problems, including tech self-pub.
Publishers used to do the marketing for writers. Now they expect writers to do it. Most writers have worked out that if they're going to do the marketing anyway, giving up more than 80% of the income in return for an initial advance may not be a great deal.
Unfortunately marketing is hard, and not many people are good at it. Especially writers, who tend to think all they have to do is put the book up on Amazon, mention it on Facebook, and wait.
So the intersection of "can write", "can market", and "can finish a book and not just think about writing one" is a tiny percentage of the total aspiring author demographic.