Being a Writer Is the Fastest Way to Starve to Death

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Updated 9/12/25

When my son was contemplating various professions, I told him, "Whatever you do, don't become a writer. It's the fastest way to starve to death." It turns out I was right. (I hate being right all the time.)

The Authors Guild, of which I am a proud member, has released a report on writing income for American authors. Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said the newest author income survey “paints a sobering picture of the financial realities authors face today.”

So, all you young and old writers, keep your day job. You're gonna need it.

(My son, much to my chagrin, is a writer. He is starving to death in Los Angeles.)

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Writing Books Remains a Tough Way to Make a Living

By Jim Milliot, September 29, 2023

A new author income study released by the Authors Guild provides a dizzying array of numbers and breakdowns about how all types of authors—traditionally published and self-published, full-time and part-time—fared financially in 2022. With such a deep trove of statistics, the survey offers something for everyone, but the main takeaway is that most authors have a hard time earning a living from their craft.

The survey, which drew responses from 5,699 published authors, found that in 2022, their median gross pre-tax income from their books was $2,000. When combined with other writing-related income, the total annual median income was $5,000. The median book-related income for survey respondents in 2022 was up 9% from 2018, adjusted for inflation, with all the increase coming from full-time authors, whose income was up 20%, compared to a 4% decline for part-time authors.

Read the rest of this depressing article HERE.

What are the most popular fiction genres?

Updated 6/19/25

Determining the most popular fiction genres is not as straightforward a task as it may seem. Is popularity judged by how many people say they prefer a certain genre, by books actually read, by revenue, or by books published? Each of these questions will yield a different answer.

Time period is also a consideration. Are we looking at last year's books, last decade's books, or all-time publishing and sales records? The infographic to the left from Ebook Friendly is a compilation of all book sales for which there are figures. Children's books are clearly the winner. But one has to take into account the boost in sales generated by the Harry Potter series, which alone generated $25 billion in revenue, selling more than 400 million books worldwide. And while the Harry Potter books may be classed as children's fiction, they may also be classed as cross-over, fantasy, and magical realism.

Given these complexities, let's break down what is meant by popularity based on what people say they read (which encompasses books people borrow from libraries), which books are sold, which genres generate the greatest revenue, and which books agents and publishers predict will sell, as these will produce the greatest number of contracts.

Preferences

According to Book Riot, the most popular genre in the U.S. is Romance, and Nielsen BookScan, which compiles data on actual sales, agrees. The most popular adult genre in 2022 was romance, followed by suspense/thrillers. But children's books sold more than three times the number of adult books.

The most popular genres according to Nielson sales data are:

Children's General Fiction (49,325)
Children's Science Fiction/Fantasy/Magic (44,578)
Children's Social Situations/Family/Health (24,932)

Adult General Fiction (35,101)
Adult Romance (28,031)
Adult Suspense/Thrillers (21,783)

What Genres Do Agents Request?

The top fiction genres that agents request don't necessary correspond to the genres with the most sales. The reason for this is that agents work on commission. Their percentage (usually 15%) is based on the amount of money books generate. So while children's books may sell more copies, they usually cost less than adult or YA fiction. In addition, media options for games, film, and TV are more likely to pan out for YA and adult contracts. (Harry Potter breaks all the rules.) According to Query Tracker the top ten most requested genres are:

1 Fantasy
2 Literary Fiction
3 Young Adult, Fantasy
4 Thrillers/Suspense
5 Romance, Contemporary
6 Romance, Fantasy
7 Horror
8 Upmarket
9 Young Adult
10 Women's Fiction

Which Genres Make the Most Money?

At $1.44 billion, Romance and Erotica are #1 in sales. That figure includes self-published romance as well. With 30 million dedicated readers, it's hard to miss if you write in this genre. As anyone in advertising knows, sex sells.

According to Bookstr, Crime and Mystery novels come in second at $728.2 million. People have a fascination with murder, whether it's a "cozy" murder in the Cotswolds or "torture porn." The fact that most murders are relatively mundane crimes committed against family members, neighbors, and friends does not lessen the appeal of hunting for "who dunnit."

Inspirational and Religious books generated $720 million in 2012. This number reflects the fact that the Bible is the most published book of all time, but it also reflects the popularity of self-help and other inspirational titles, which have gained a large share of the market.

Fantasy and Science Fiction come in at $590 million. Like Romance, Sci-fi and Fantasy have dedicated readers, which means there is a steady market. This is why so many agents include SFF on their wish lists.

You will notice that the books agents are most interested in don't have a one-to-one correspondence with the books that have generated the most sales. For example, many agents put YA at the top of their lists, while Romance actually generates the most sales. The reason for the discrepancy is two-fold; 1) Romance authors can easily publish their work without the help of an agent, either with a Romance publisher or on their own, and 2) YA is a developing market.

According to Hook, YA fiction print sales have increased by 48.2% since 2018. The category experienced huge jumps in sales during the pandemic, growing by 24.7% in 2020 and 27.5% in 2021. As of 2022, 35.03 million print copies of YA fiction books are sold each year. Agents not only choose manuscripts based on what is happening now in the publishing industry, but on projected sales. It takes a year or more after a contract is signed to get a book on the shelves, and that's not counting the time it takes to make a sale. Agents, like publishers, have to keep an eye on trends.

Which Genre Should You Write?

That is an easy question to answer: Write whatever genre that suits you. Don't base your decision on the genres agents want, or on the market. If your heart isn't in what you are writing, you'll only make yourself miserable. Ultimately, the writers who are the most successful have followed their own ideas, their own inspiration, their own muse. My advice is to write what you care about — and keep your day job.

2017 Smashwords Survey - Best Price for Your Ebook, Preorders & More

Smashwords is a popular  ebook distribution platform for self-publishers. Despite the dominance of Amazon, the company has enjoyed considerable success. Since 2008, Smashwords has published over 450,000 titles by 130,000 authors and small publishers.

In addition to its own platform, Smashwords distributes to multiple retailers and libraries. The largest Smashwords retailer is iBooks, followed by Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the Smashwords Store, Scribd, Amazon and several smaller outlets including public library aggregators such as OverDrive.

Every year, Smashwords analyzes trends in their ebook publishing platform — what works, what doesn’t work, which prices do best, etc. After nearly a decade of ebook publishing, and over the course of many surveys, the CEO of Smashwords, Mark Coker, has insights that are invaluable for writers launching into self-publishing. 

Below are some of the findings from the 2017 Smashwords survey. You can see an informative slide show of the survey HERE.

Top-Selling Categories

The vast majority of Smashwords books are fiction. The top-selling category is romance, which accounts for nearly 50% of books published by Smashwords. The top ten fiction categories are as follows:

1. Romance (73% of the top 200 best-selling titles)
2. Erotica
3. Fantasy
4. Young Adult
5. Science Fiction
6. LGBT Fiction
7. Thriller
8. Historical Fiction
9. Adventure
10. Horror

In the nonfiction category, the ten top-ranked books are: Self-Help, Health, Business, Religion, Relationships, Sports, Education, History, Home and Garden, and New Age.

Why Does Romance Perform So Well?

Romance has more dedicated readers than any other genre, but more significantly, those readers are voracious. Romance novels tend to be quick reads, and these readers will consume a book a day, which means there is endless demand. 

From an industry perspective, romance writers have the advantage of a strong national association, as well as regional organizations and publication-focused writing conferences. Because romance writers are prolific, they tend to adopt innovative marketing strategies (pre-orders, free series starters, and frequent releases of new books).

Best Price for Self-Published Novels

Free still draws the most downloads - 33 times more than paid books. (Interestingly, this is down from previous years.) Free promotions work best for series, and for authors with a substantial backlist. 

The most popular price is still $2.99. But, $3.99, $4.99 and $5.99 earn more. (The price that generates the most earnings is $3.99. The price that gets the most downloads is 99 cents.) How does this work? Authors who are just starting out should price their books at $2.99 in order to gain readers. But once they are established, they should increase the price of their books. Popular authors can charge more for their books than those who are relatively unknown.

Length Matters

Longer books tend to sell more than shorter. The average length of books in the top 100 selling bracket was 111,000 words. Words counts decline from that point, down to 90,000 words, which is still a substantial book. The average word count for the top 70 romance books is 113,000. 

What this means is that romance readers really like to immerse themselves in a book. 

Title Length Matters Too

Readers who like long books, apparently don't like long titles. The top 100 bestsellers featured titles with roughly 25 characters, rising up to 30 characters as the bestselling rank decreased. Coincidence? Probably not. Covers sell books, and romance covers sell a LOT of books. Romance readers don't need to be distracted by a lot of words on the cover. Just the semi-naked man/men or woman/women plus the author's name will do.

Pre-orders

Smashwords launched its pre-order program in 2013 with the promise that it would yield significant gains for authors. Surprisingly, very few authors took advantage of this feature - only 12% of books were launched as pre-orders. But, over 60% of the highest earning authors utilized a pre-order for at least one of their books. Roughly 45% of bestsellers were born with pre-orders. 

The spread of fiction categories utilizing pre-orders was fairly even. About a quarter of romance, YA, and historical fiction books were launched with pre-orders. Fantasy, mystery, and thrillers each amounted to 20%, with the rest of the categories declining. What is interesting is the percentage of sales gleaned from pre-orders. Those categories which utilized pre-orders the most, also generated the highest number of total sales. In sum, pre-orders work.

Series 

Series still rate as the top means for finding readers. Of the top ten series, seven started with a free book (all seven were romance titles). And of the top 100 series, 67 began with a free book. What is important to note is that series that started with a free book eventually made three to five times more than series that did not.

There was an average of between seven and eight titles per series. Three-quarters of Smashwords bestsellers come from a series. Series titles sell significantly more than stand-alone books. On average, series books sell nearly four times more than stand-alones. 

Bottom Line(s)

1) Always start with a pre-order

2) Write a series, and start with a perma-free first book

3) Price your book at $2.99, but then increase as your books gain readers

4) Don't base your publishing strategy on a single metric - experiment to find what works for you!

Free Guides

Smashwords provides a number of incredibly useful free guides. Take advantage of these!

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success

Smashwords Book Marketing Guide

Smashwords Style Guide

(Also available in Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Hindi and more.)

Book Categories That Boomed in 2015, and Books That Busted

Every year Nielsen BookScan releases statistics on how many books in each of its categories sold. This gives us 20-20 hindsight on what constituted a successful genre in the preceding year, while doing nothing to predict future trends.

Nevertheless, looking at yearly statistics gives us pause for thought. For example, in the non-fiction category people appear to have suddenly gotten very interested in art. (Actually, they were just interested in coloring books. Animal Kingdom: Color Me, Draw Me (Lark), sold 332,000 copies last year.) Crafts, hobbies, house and home, and gardening have also enjoyed substantial boosts. 

In adult fiction, science fiction got the biggest boost in sales, increasing 44% in 2015. We can attribute that increase to The Martian, which sold just under 1.2 million print copies. Graphic novels also saw a bump of 22%. 

Literary fiction (classics) also saw an increase due to the publication of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, which generated a surge in sales of To Kill a Mockingbird.

While yearly growth may be due to the success of a single book in any given genre, the distribution of books sold has remained fairly consistent.

Book categories with the most unit sales were general children's fiction (49K) and juvenile SFF (44K). General adult fiction and the Bible/religious books tied at fourth place followed by reference books and romance.

Table from Publisher's Weekly.

Unit Sales by Category, 2014-2015 (in thousands)

	2014	2015	% Change
Adult Non-Fiction
Art/Architecture/Design/Photography	6,984	11,172	60%
Biography/Autobiography/Memoir	22,803	23,544	3%
Business/Economics	16,604	17,155	3%
Cooking/Entertaining	15,492	15,495	0%
Computers	4,652	4,234	-9%
Crafts/Hobbies/Antiques/Games	8,485	11,486	35%
Health/Fitness/Medicine/Sports	21,574	21,557	0%
History/Law/Political Science	15,220	17,132	13%
House & Home/Gardening	2,130	3,184	49%
Humor	4,897	4,660	-5%
Performing Arts	7,706	8,321	8%
Reference	31,989	33,266	4%
Religion/Bibles	35,798	35,930	0%
Self Help	9,848	11,279	15%
Travel	7,417	7,620	3%
General Non-Fiction	28,533	30,009	5%
Total Adult Non-Fiction	240,130	256,042	7%
Adult Fiction
Classics	7,578	9,985	32%
Occult/Psychological/Horror	3,329	2,218	-33%
Religion	4,174	4,414	6%
Fantasy	7,526	6,600	-12%
Science Fiction	4,142	5,964	44%
Suspense/Thrillers	20,111	21,783	8%
Action Adventure	2,239	2,285	2%
Graphic Novels	8,669	10,591	22%
Western	2,232	2,186	-2%
Mystery/Detective	14,304	12,533	-12%
Romance	30,885	28,031	-9%
General Fiction	33,524	35,101	5%
Total Adult Fiction	138,712	141,690	2%
Juvenile Non-Fiction
Animals	4,625	5,128	11%
Biographies/Autobiographies	3,979	4,253	7%
Concepts	3,790	4,296	13%
Education/Reference/Language	6,496	7,651	18%
Games/Activities/Hobbies	12,362	13,703	11%
History/Sports/People/Places	11,232	12,753	14%
Holidays/Festivals/Religion	3,895	4,073	5%
Social Situations/Family/Health	2,502	2,766	11%
Total Juvenile Non-Fiction	48,882	54,624	12%
Juvenile Fiction
Animals	9,051	10,112	12%
Classics	9,981	10,161	2%
Concepts	8,909	9,307	4%
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Magic	45,511	44,578	-2%
History/Sports/People/Places	14,107	13,550	-4%
Holidays/Festivals/Religion	8,621	9,418	9%
Social Situations/Family/Health	27,815	24,932	-10%
General	52,690	49,325	-6%
Total Juvenile Fiction	176,685	171,383	-3%

The 2015 Smashwords Survey - Best price for your book, preorders, and top genres

Smashwords is an ebook distribution platform for self-publishers founded in 2008. Despite the dominance of Amazon, the company has enjoyed considerable success. Smashwords published 336,000 books by over 100,000 authors in 2014.

The CEO of Smashwords, Mark Coker, is a man who is dedicated to the idea of democratizing publishing. His insights are enormously helpful for writers breaking into the publishing scene, and Smashwords' annual surveys provide valuable information about strategies for epublishing success.

Below are some of the findings from the 2015 Smashwords survey. You can read the full survey (with an informative slide show) HERE.

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Key Findings of the 2015 Smashwords Survey

1.  Wow, preorders.  For the first time we analyzed the percentage of books born as preorders (as opposed to simply uploaded the day of release) and compared the sales of preorder-birthed books to non-preorder books.  During the survey period, less than 10 percent of books were born as a preorder, even though this feature has been available to Smashwords authors since mid 2013.  Yet despite the low usage, two thirds of our top 200 bestselling titles were born as preorders.

_____________________

2.  Series with free series starters earn more money.  For the first time we analyzed the difference in sales between series with free series and starters and series without free series starters.  We looked at our 200 bestselling series with a free series starter and our 200 bestselling series without free series starters.  Then we added up the numbers and compared them.  First we looked at the average.  The free series starter group earned 66% more

3.  Free still works to build readership.  For each survey year, we've looked at how free ebook downloads compare to paid downloads using iBooks as our apples to apples comparison each year (bad pun, sorry!).  In the 2014 Survey, we found that free books got 39 times more downloads than priced books, down dramatically from 91x in 2013 and 100X in 2012.   I expected the power of free to fall further this year, given that this secret - which I've been advocating for nearly eight years - helps authors earn more money.  The result for 2014?  41x.  The effectiveness of free increased despite the glut of free books.

4.  Longer books sell better than shorter books.  This finding is consistent with each of the prior year's surveys, though as I mention in the presentation, this year's finding comes with a lot more caveats.  In a nutshell, I suspect the rise of multi-author box sets, often at deep discount prices, is probably throwing off the data this year, and as I discuss in the presentation, some of the dynamics will cause it to understate impact of longer books and some will cause it to overstate it.

5.  $3.99 remains the sweet spot for full length indie fiction.  For the third year in a row, authors sold more units and earned more overall income with books priced at $3.99.  This is significant because it counters the concern of some authors that the glut of high-quality will lead to ever lower prices.  For great authors, readers are still willing to pay.  The pricing, earnings and unit sales data we share has been remarkably consistent now for four years, especially when you consider how this translates to a competitive advantage for indie ebook authors compared to traditionally published ebook authors. 

6.  99 cents is still good for building readership, but not as good as $2.99 and $3.99.  And from an earnings perspective, 99 cents underperforms the average of all other prices by about 65%.

7.  Avoid $1.99.   For the fourth year in a row, $1.99 was a black hole in terms of overall earnings.  On a unit sales basis, although $1.99 books outperformed all books priced $5.00 and above, it dramatically underperformed on overall earnings, earning 73% less than the average of all other price points.

8.  Bestselling authors and social media.  Bestselling authors are more likely to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, and more likely to have a blog.  Not a huge surprise, though it's worth noting there are plenty of successful authors who have minimal presence on social media.

9.  Top 10 Fiction categories during the one year period:  1.  Romance.  2.  Erotica.  3.  YA and teen fiction.  4.  Fantasy.  5.  Mystery & detective.   6.  Gay and lesbian fiction.  7.  Science fiction.  8.  Historical.  9.  Thriller & suspense.   10.  Adventure.

10.  Top 10 Non-fiction categories during the one year period:  1. Biography.  2.  Health, wellbeing and medicine.  3.  Business & economics.  4.  Self-improvement.  5. Religion & spirituality.  6.  Relationships and family.  7.  Sports and outdoor recreation.   8.  Education and study guides.  9.  New age.  10.  Computers & Internet.

You can read the full survey along with an informative slide show HERE.

Income for Authors Plummets

Whenever the economy contracts -  and ours has definitely suffered a downturn - industries attempt to maintain their level of profit by any means necessary. That usually boils down to squeezing as much as possible out of their employees, while offering less in return. (After all, what CEO wants to give up their private jet?)

"Let them eat cake"

Squeezing employees - that is, requiring more output while reducing their pay and benefits -  has been the standard response to economic "corrections" since time immemorial. And, while writers may not feel that they fall in the category of "employee" they are certainly a resource that can be squeezed.

In their most recent survey, the Authors Guild reports that since 2009 authors are feeling the crunch; 56% are now earning below the poverty line. For a single person, the Federal Poverty Level is $11,770. For a household of two, it is $15,930, and for three it is $20,090. Most of the authors who answered the survey were older professionals (over the age of 50), so we may safely assume that many are married, and/or have children, which means nearly all of the respondents would fall below the poverty line. (Note: The total number of respondents was 1,674.)

From "The Wages of Writing" - Authors Guild

According to Publishers Weekly:

"the median writing-related income among respondents dropped from $10,500 in 2009 to $8,000 2014 in 2014, a decline of 24%. The decline came for both full-time and part-time authors with full-time authors reporting a 30% drop in income to $17,500 and part-time authors seeing a 38% decrease, to $4,500."

Who is hit the hardest?

In keeping with the (unwritten) policy of squeezing employees, professional writers, even those with decades of experience, saw a substantial decline in income. While authors with 15 - 25 years of experience lost nearly half their income, those with 25 - 40 years of experience experienced a devastating 67% drop.

From "The Wages of Writing" - Authors Guild

From the publishers' perspective, targeting experienced writers makes a certain amount of sense. Authors with track records are known quantities, and their income is something accounting departments can calculate against profits - just as the cost/benefit ratio of permanent employees can be calculated.

This increases the vulnerability of authors with established incomes, as those expenditures can be slashed according to market projections.

For full-time writers the dramatic loss of income may mean having to take on a second job, or even a third, precisely at a time in their lives when they are least likely to be hired.

Retraining for other professions is also difficult for an older population, which means authors may have to take on low-paying menial jobs to make ends meet.

Working as a Walmart greeter is not something a writer expects after 20 years in the industry.

Shifting costs onto the shoulders of writers

Not only are publishers paying their authors less. writers are being asked to foot the bill for their own marketing, which allows publishers to cut publicity costs (and lay off marketing personnel).

From "The Wages of Writing" - Authors Guild

Publishing contracts increasingly include clauses that require authors to build and maintain online platforms to promote their work. Some even require potential first-time authors to have a substantial platform before publishing, a stance reflected in the wish-lists of agents. This is a near impossibility for writers who are just breaking into the field, and places an enormous time burden on them. Social media marketing is also, to a large extent, fruitless - unless you are famous.

In the past, publishers took on the responsibility of marketing and promotion, for which they maintained scores of publicists. The media connections large houses maintained served to offset some of the disadvantages of signing on with a traditional publisher - namely low royalty rates.

Is self-publishing the way out?

The appeal of self-publishing for established authors is obvious. Writers with upwards of 15 years under their belts have experience, not just as writers, but with the industry. They know how the system works. They also have fans. There is no substitute for a loyal following, and any author with a fan base has a distinct advantage over a newcomer - even if both are launching websites, twitter accounts, and social marketing campaigns at the same time.

Fully one-third of the professional writers who took the Guild survey had self-published a book. The attraction of self-publishing has increased exponentially, not only because incomes have dropped, but because alongside the economic contraction, publishers are becoming less supportive of authors. In concrete terms, this means that publishers are imposing restrictions on authors' creativity in order to align their work more closely with what the publisher believes will sell. Publishers base those beliefs not on new, interesting ideas, but on what has sold in the past. No one with an ounce of creativity wishes to be restricted to following the well-worn tracks of previous authors.

What does this mean for new writers?

One of the most attractive things about being a writer is that for the majority of those who take pen in hand (metaphorically, at this point), income is not the motivating factor. People write because: 1) they have a romantic ideal in their head about the thrill of being an author, 2) they really must get a message out to the rest of the world, 3) they like to write. Few anticipate having a meteoric rise to fame and fortune. (Nor should they wish it. Nothing kills a young writer's career faster than early fame.)

Taking into account the dismal findings of the Authors Guild survey, writers must be realistic about their prospects. If publishers continue to cut back on what they offer writers, self-publishing may be the only viable option. Even if new writers don't make a lot of money from their self-published work, at least they don't have a publisher insisting that they cut whole chapters, remove any word longer than two syllables, or rewrite their characters to make them more appealing to 12-year-olds (all of which has happened to me).

There are other options, of course. Forming coops is one of them. Writers who band together have greater chance of success than when each one attempts to make it on his or her own. The cooperative model is one that has existed for decades in other areas of business, why not publishing?

What is abundantly clear from the Authors Guild survey is that something has to be done. Writers are indeed a resource, not just for the industry that profits from them, but for everyone. By reducing authors to penury, we are all the poorer.

The World's Largest Publishers, 2015

If you had to name the world's largest publisher, without looking at the list below, you'd probably say Penguin/Random House.

You would be correct if you were thinking of trade publishing. But Pearson, which publishes educational material, always wins the top slot. Thompson Reuters, a multi-media and information company geared toward business, is again number two.

What is interesting about this year's line-up is that two Chinese publishers made it into the top ten. China is a huge market, and it is largely closed. (There aren't many translation services that will translate a book into Chinese, and even then there are roadblocks. If you are thinking about translating your book, my recommendation would be to pick French and Spanish. BabelCube will do it for free.)

Without further ado...

The World's 57 Largest Book Publishers, 2015

From Publishers Weekly

Rank 2015	Rank 2014	Publishing Group or Division	Parent Company	Parent Country	2014 Revenue in $M	2013 Revenue in $M
1	1	Pearson	Pearson PLC	UK	$7,072	$7,801
2	3	ThomsonReuters	The Woodbridge Company Ltd.	Canada	$5,760	$5,576
3	2	RELX Group	Reed Elsevier PLC & Reed Elsevier NV	UK/NL/US	$5,362	$6,093
4	4	Wolters Kluwer	Wolters Kluwer	NL	$4,455	$4,920
5	5	Penguin Random House	Bertelsmann AG	Germany	$4,046	$3,664*
6	NEW	Phoenix Publishing and Media Company	Phoenix Publishing and Media Company	China	$2,840	$2,781
7	NEW	China South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd	China South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd	China	$2,579	$2,237
8	6	Hachette Livre	Lagardere	France	$2,439	$2,851
9	10	McGraw-Hill Education	Apollo Global Management LLC	US	$2,190 (Est.)	$1,992
10	7	Holtzbrinck	Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck	Germany	$2,000	$2,222
11	8	Grupo Planeta	Grupo Planeta	Spain	$1,943	$2,161
12	11	Scholastic	Scholastic	US	$1,822	$1,792
12	12	Wiley	Wiley	US	$1,822	$1,761
14	9	Cengage Learning Holdings II LP	Apax and Omers Capital Partners	US/Canada	$1,708	$1,747
15	14	China Publishing Group Corporation	China Publishing Group Corporation	China	$1,495	$1,499
16	16	Harper Collins	News Corp.	US	$1,434	$1,369
17	15	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company	US/Cayman Islands	$1,372	$1,379
18	13	De Agostini Editore	Gruppo De Agostini	Italy	$1,367	N/A
19	18	Oxford University Press	Oxford University	UK	$1,181	$1,254
20	17	Springer Science and Business Media	EQT and GIC Investors;	Sweden, Singapore	$1,167	$1,301
21	21	China Education Publishing & Media Holdings Co. Ltd.	China Education Publishing & Media Holdings Co. Ltd.	China	$1,108	$1,152
22	20	Informa	Informa plc	UK	$1,075	$1,185
23	19	Shueisha	Hitotsubashi Group	Japan	$1,033	$1,191
24	22	Kodansha Ltd.	Kodansha Ltd.	Japan	$997	$1,143
25	23	Egmont Group	Egmont International Holding A/S	Denmark	$896	$1,101
26	25	Shogakukan	Hitotsubashi Group	Japan	$859	$1,011
27	26	Bonnier	The Bonnier Group	Sweden	$836	$976
28	24	Grupo Santillana	PRISA SA	Spain	$793	$1,020
29	27	Kadokawa Publishing	Kadokawa Holdings Inc.	Japan	$793	$900
30	28	Simon & Schuster	CBS	US	$778	$809
31	30	Woongjin ThinkBig	Woongjin Holding	Korea	$577	$616
32	29	Klett	Klett Gruppe	Germany	$560	$622
33	31	Groupe Madrigall	Madrigall	France	$531	N/A
34	32	Les Editions Lefebvre-Sarrut	Frojal	France	$482	$559
35	34	Messagerie / GeMS	Messagerie Italiane	Italy	$460	$543
36	35	Media Participations	Media Participations	Belgium	$426	$481
37	36	Mondadori	The Mondadori Group	Italy	$410	$462
38	39	Cambridge University Press	Cambridge University Press	UK	$409	$433
39	38	The Perseus Book Group	The Perseus Book Group	USA	$400	N/A
40	NEW	France Loisirs	ACTISSIA SAS	France	$364
40	41	Westermann Verlagsgruppe	Medien Union	Germany	$364	$401
42	40	Sanoma	Sanoma WSOY	Finland	$355	$422
43	37	Cornelsen	Cornelsen	Germany	$346	$456
44	43	Kyowon Co. Ltd.	Kyowon Co. Ltd.	Korea	$312	$353
45	46	La Martinière	La Martinière	France	$292	$329
46	48	Haufe Gruppe	Privately owned	Germany	$285	$315
46	47	WEKA	WEKA Firmengruppe	Germany	$286	$316
48	44	RCS Libri	RCS Media Group	Italy	$271	$348
49	50	Gakken Co. Ltd.	Gakken Co. Ltd.	Japan	$257	$297
50	51	Bungeishunju Ltd.	Bungeishunju Ltd.	Japan	$216	$253
51	49	OLMA Media Group	Privately owned	Cyprus	$213	$306
52	45	EKSMO	Privately owned	Russia	$211	$343
53	54	Groupe Albin Michel	Groupe Albin Michel	France	$204	$232
54	56	Saraiva	Saraiva	Brazil	$199	$215
55	NEW	Editora FTD	Editora FTD	Brazil	$198	$199
56	55	Abril Educação	Abril group	Brazil	$196	$216
57	52	Shinchosha Publishing Co, Ltd.	Shinchosa Publishing Co, Ltd.	Japan	$176	N/A
Not ranked		Harlequin	Torstar Corp.	Canada	$343	$374

* 2013 Revenue figure is for Random House, before its merger with Penguin

And Other Stories Announces It Will Only Publish Books by Women

The news that most literary prizes are won by men should come as no surprise. The chances of getting published - and reviewed - are much greater if you are male. (There are two literary strongholds for female novelists: romance and "women's fiction." The rest are dominated by male authors, and feature male protagonists.)

Kamila Shamsie has challenged publishers to address this disparity by making 2018 the Year of Publishing Women, in which no new titles should be by men. So far, only And Other Stories, a small British press, has taken up Kamila Shamsie's challenge.

A point of interest is that And Other Stories accepts submissions directly from unpublished authors, and for translations of work into English. If you are a woman who has not yet published a novel, you may want to consider submitting. 

Further reading: 

Research shows male writers still dominate books world

Kamila Shamsie: let’s have a year of publishing only women – a provocation

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No men allowed: publisher accepts novelist's 'year of women' challenge

The Guardian: Alison Flood, Thursday 11 June 2015 03.00 EDT

Small press And Other Stories has answered author Kamila Shamsie’s provocative call for a year of publishing women to redress “gender bias” in the literary world.

The novelist made what she called her “provocation” in Saturday’s Guardian, revealing that just under 40% of books submitted to the Booker prize over the past five years were by women, and pointing to everything from the author Nicola Griffith’s research, which found that far more prize-winning novels have male than female protagonists, to the Vida statistics showing that male authors and reviewers command more space than female.

“At this point, I’m going to assume that the only people who really doubt that there is a gender bias going on are those who stick with the idea that men are better writers and better critics,” wrote Shamsie. “Enough. Across the board, enough ... I would argue that is time for everyone, male and female, to sign up to a concerted campaign to redress the inequality ... Why not have a year of publishing women: 2018, the centenary of women over the age of 30 getting the vote in the UK, seems appropriate.”

And Other Stories, the literary press that uses a network of readers to source its titles, has become the first publisher to accept the challenge. “I think we can do it,” said publisher Stefan Tobler. “And if we don’t do it, what is going to change?”

Read the rest of this article HERE.

Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Women Authors Predominate in Self-Publishing

A recent survey conducted by FicShelf found that while men still dominate the traditional book industry, among self-published writers women are publishing and selling more.

FicShelf found that 67% of top-ranking titles were written by women on platforms such as Blurb, Wattpad, CreateSpace and Smashwords. Compare that figure to the top 100 traditionally published titles on Amazon, 61% of which are written by men.

When FicShelf focused on novels, the results were even more skewed: of 134 fiction titles, 109, or 81%, were by women, 11 were by men, and 14 were unknown.

“The scale of the discrepancy shows that women writers aren’t being treated equally in traditional publishing,” said the author Roz Morris. “We’re usually pigeonholed into obviously feminine genres such as chick-lit and romance, but not generally allowed to be complex artistes, to write the unusual books that break new ground. These figures show a huge vote of confidence for the writer in charge of their artistic destiny – and indicate that the literary world should take more notice of what women writers are publishing.”

________________________________________________

Self-publishing lets women break book industry's glass ceiling, survey finds

The Guardian, March 6, 2015

If a woman writing fiction needs “money and a room of her own”, as Virginia Woolf suggested, writers at the beginning of the 21st century should perhaps insist the room comes with an internet connection, after a new study has found that the proportion of self-published bestsellers written by women is almost twice as large as in traditional publishing.

The DIY sector of the books market is currently booming, both in terms of numbers of books created, and numbers bought. In 2013, Nielsen Book found that 18m self-published books were purchased by UK readers, up 79% on 2012, while according to Bowker, there were over 458,000 titles self-published in the US in 2013, up 17% on 2012 and 437% on 2008.

Read the rest of this enlightening article HERE.

Top Self-Published Genres in 2014

As usual, Romance dominated Smashword's bestseller list for 2014.

Of the top 25 bestselling novels, 16 were Romance. Four were historical fiction, which appears to be making a comeback, and six were YA, which did well everywhere last year.

The mean price was $2.99.

_________________

From Publishers Weekly: 

Also dominating the annual list were series. According to Smashwords Founder Mark Coker, 21 of 25 books on the list are by series writers, and all the authors have at least one series starter priced at "perma-free."

"We've been advocating this strategy for six years," Coker says. "It works. We introduced enhanced series metadata capabilities in late 2013, and this set the stage for some strong series performance in 2014."

List from Publishers Weekly.

Rank	Title	Author	Genre	Price
1	Broken Silence	Natasha Preston	Romance	$2.99
2	Mud and Gold (Promises to Keep: Book 2)	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
3	Settling the Account (Promises to Keep: Book 3)	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
4	Betrayed: Book Two - The Road to Redemption	Nicky Charles	Paranormal Romance	$2.99
5	A Second Chance	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
6	Enjoying the Chase	Kirsty Moseley	Romance	$2.99
7	Drawn 2 - Redemption (Damien)	Lilliana Anderson	Romance	$3.99
8	Heller's Regret	JD Nixon	Mystery	$2.99
9	Fable	Chanda Hahn	YA Fiction	$3.99
10	Reign	Chanda Hahn	YA Fiction	$3.99
11	A Sweet Life Boxed Set	Various Authors	Romance	$2.99
12	Tall, Silent and Lethal	R.L. Mathewson	Paranormal Romance	$2.99
13	Saving Angel	Brenda Kennedy	Romance	$2.99
14	Pride Over Pity	Kailyn Lowry	Memoir	$9.99
15	Storm Shells	GJ Walker-Smith	YA Romance	$3.99
16	Second Hearts	GJ Walker-Smith	YA Romance	$3.99
17	The Will	Kristen Ashley	Romance	$3.99
18	The Silver Siren	Chanda Hahn	YA Fiction	$3.99
19	All For This	Lexi Ryan	Romance	$3.99
20	Daisy's War	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
21	Poles Apart	Kirsty Moseley	Romance	$2.99
22	Secret North	GJ Walker-Smith	YA Fiction	$3.99
23	Deacon	Kristen Ashley	Romance	$3.99
24	Four Score (Gypsy Brothers, #4)	Lili Saint Germain	Romance	$2.99
25	Unconditional	Melody Grace	Romance	$4.99