If you’re new to the indie author world, or even have been doing this for years, I hope that this article will help answer some questions. “How much do indie authors earn?” “How do you become an indie author?” and a whole bunch of other questions. I hope that I’ll be able to answer as many questions as I can and to be as transparent as I can.

To start off with: I had a hard year. I broke my hand in a bad biking accident back in the summer and it took me months to bounce back. On the positive side, I did write one fiction novel and started a non-fiction podcast (more on that in a bit).

And I learned how fickle cryptocurrency is and how amazing AI has become (note the present tense—there’s no “will become” anymore. Tools like ChatGPT are game changers).

If you’re new to my wrap-ups, I’ll breakdown what I spent on indie publishing and how much I’ve earned and then I’ll share a few thoughts about what I learned. To help, here are my posts from previous years:

2022 Goals

For 2022, I wanted to write a new Cinderella’s Secret Witch Diaries book, start a podcast to support my Let Go and Be Free: 100 Final Daily Reflections for Adult Children of Alcoholics series, and get new covers for all five of my Cinderella books.

In 2021, I published four books, but I felt burned out at the beginning of 2022. I chose to pull back and stop any future novel work. I’ve been writing books for more than a decade and with more than 20 books on the market, I decided to take a risk and give myself some time off.

Instead, I wrote some really fun Cinderella short stories and kicked off my weekly Let Go and Be Free podcast.

So how did I do?

I published book 5, Conviction, in my Cinderella series.
I recorded and released 41 episodes of my Let Go and Be Free podcast.
I replaced 3 out of the 5 covers for my Cinderella series.
I sent out my bi-monthly fiction newsletter all through 2022.
Starting in late March, I began sending out my weekly Let Go and Be Free substack newsletter to support my podcast that I had started.

All in all, I had a slower year, but instead of throwing money in advertising at my fiction books, I held back because I wanted to test the new covers. Since I don’t have them all yet (I’m working with my spouse on these), I only spent money on Amazon ads for my Let Go and Be Free non-fiction series.

Expenses

Mailchimp: $314.40
Mailerlite: $42.40
Scribecount: $30
Facebook ads: $15.08
Amazon Ads: $1148.17
Copyright.gov fees: $45
Bookfunnel: $20.00
Mac in Cloud Service: $30.00
Google apps: $76.32
Squarespace web hosting fees: $203.52
Web domains: $27.16

Total: $1952.05

A few thoughts about my expenses:

Last year I spent more than $4200 and I had decided to majorly pull back this year. I wasted a lot of money on advertising in newsletters and on tools/services.
I dropped my membership in Alliance of Independent Authors because I wasn’t really using their IngramSpark codes and most of what I learn about indie publishing I learn on podcasts.
I also switched email campaign platforms. I really like Mailchimp, but the cost was prohibitive. I switched to Mailerlite and went through my list, deleting duplicates, and people who never open my emails. Instead of spending $35+ a month on Mailchimp, I’m now only spending $10.60.
Since I own Vellum, I do my own book formatting and only needed to spend $30 to re-up my Mac-in-Cloud account. If you’re not familiar with Vellum, I recommend you read my how to use Vellum post (with step-by-step instructions and screenshots).
I tried a simple experiment with Facebook that didn’t net me any sales and decided to hold off on any other ads there.

Sales

Here’s a breakdown of my income for 2022:

Amazon: $1,650.84
Affiliate sales: $36.68
Apple Books:$85.90
Kobo: $32.11
Barnes & Noble: $26.52
Google Play: $84.92
Draft2Digital misc.: $3.56
Alliance for Independent Authors Affiliate Fee: $37.50
ACX (audiobooks): $3.19
IngramSpark: $16.18

Total: $1977.38

Reflections

I earned $25.33 in 2022 with my indie author side business. This is the first time I’ve turned a profit since my first year back in 2011.

Yes, I can’t live off of $25.33, but I do want to point out that in 2021 I lost $1998.42.

Considering there was high inflation in 2022, and the economy was in disarray due to several global factors (supply chain, war in Ukraine, pandemic, etc.), I’m pretty happy that I turned a small profit this year.

In 2021, I had some major expenses and decided to cut way back in 2022 to just the essentials.

As for my revenue: In 2022, I went all in with my non-fiction books. They’re selling, whereas my fiction isn’t.

2022 Breakdown of Sales by Book Title

In 2022, I spent 99% of my Amazon advertising dollars on volume 1 of my Let Go and Be Free series and spent no money on advertising any of my fiction. In the graph above, book 4, Redemption, of my Cinderella series came in 5th place in sales without any advertising.

After wasting so much money on newsletter ads last year ($1072.99) for my fiction books, I wanted to see what would happen if I focused on selling my non-fiction books. I’m happy with the sales I received, but I’d like to find an easier way to drive traffic to my the Let Go and Be Free series.

Amazon ads can be expensive. I spent $1148.17 and my total sales on Amazon (most of that is to my Let Go and Be Free series) was $1650.84. Again, that’s not great, but at least it’s a profit.

Book Expenses and Sales: 2011-2022

In the graph above, I can easily see the trends in my business over the last 11 years. I earned a little bit of money that first year and have struggled since. But when I look deeper, I’m seeing that my sales are also starting to go up.

For 2022, I’ve found a way to cut costs and turn a small profit.

With inflation and the other economic issues, I’m happy with the amount of sales I had. Would I like more?

Yes, honestly, I would, but I’ve put some thought into a longer term strategy on how to not only bring in money, but to help neutralize some of my expenses.

But first, let me talk about the elephant in the room: Amazon ads.

Amazon Ads

I spent $1148.17 on Amazon ads in 2022 and I have to be honest: I had the ads mostly on autopilot. I set up a bunch of automatic ads and every few weeks I’d run ads toward certain keywords. I kept the costs per click mostly to $.38, but I found that as the year went on, I needed to raise that to $.42 or I wouldn’t get any traffic to the ads.

As November and December came around, my ads performed worse because of the intense competition for ads. In early December, I turned my ads off for the year. There’s no point in trying to compete against so many people as I was seeing that my ad spend was greater than my sales.

Instead of taking a loss, I shut all the ads down.

I’ll restart them in January and see how they go from there.

Am I happy that Amazon ads are so difficult? No, I’m not.

I’ve taken courses and have considered purchasing more training, but for now, I’ve opted to hold off. I’ll run a few simple ads in 2023 and re-evaluate as the year goes on.

I know that I’ll need to run some ads to my fiction, but I’m going to hold off on that decision. I plan on doing some tests once all the Cinderella covers are finished, but I might have to face the hard fact: Those early books may not sell much.

I’m a different writer than I was back in 2008 when I first started book 1.

I might choose to write a new series and market that.

What Did I Learn in 2022?

Vellum

I mentioned this last year, but I’m still amazed at how easy Vellum is to format both my ebook and print books. I can format a book in minutes instead of hours. I wasted a lot of time over the years because I didn’t want to purchase the software, but that investment has been well worth it!

IngramSpark

My sales for through IngramSpark were extremely low. I refused to accept books back from stores, so it looks like I might have spent a lot of time last year setting my books up and not really selling that many. (Between 2021 and 2022, I earned $178.17 on IngramSpark.)

I learned a lot, and I documented my process in my Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Create a Print Book in IngramSpark post, but I don’t see myself doing any other books there—at least not until I write another non-fiction book.

Still, I ran an experiment for one year and just didn’t see a great amount of sales there. I’ll leave the books up, but don’t expect that I’ll see a boost in revenue on IngramSpark anytime soon.

Podcasting

With the positive sales of my Let Go and Be Free series, I decided in the early part of this year to do a podcast. Because I needed a break from writing fiction, I decided to start up a podcast that would not only allow me to be creative in a whole new way, but I could help share my experiences about how I overcame growing up in an alcoholic/dysfunctional family.

I’ve run podcasts in the past, so I knew how much work it would be, but I discovered that it’s a lot easier these days than when I ran my first podcast more than 14 years ago.

At a few clicks of a button, I was able to syndicate my podcast to Apple, Google, Amazon, Spotify, and a whole other bunch of places. Sure, my listener base is low, but I’m not spending a lot of money on the venture.

I needed a way to break out of my burnout from writing fiction, so I figured: If my Let Go and Be Free books are selling, why not start a podcast to support those books?

I’ve listeners from around the world and I’m slowly building the audience. If the growth plateaus, I can always reassess and stop the podcast.

I’ve put out 41 episodes and I’m finally coming into my own. I’m enjoying the weekly deadline of needing to come up with a topic, record, edit, and then release it, but I am also taking great personal satisfaction in being able to connect with others on a more personal basis.

Substack

Many tech writers have jumped on Substack as a means build an audience and charge for their newsletter. I started an experiment in 2022 and will continue it into 2023.

My Let Go and Be Free Substack is where people can sign up and get a weekly newsletter from me to learn about how I healed from growing up in an alcoholic and dysfunctional family. (If you’re interested, here’s the link to my Substack.)

My list is small and I only have two paying subscribers to date, but Substack is an interesting model. I can give my newsletter away for free or charge a monthly fee.

For my experiment, I’m giving the newsletter away for free, but I do have two members who have decided to subscribe.

My hope is that other subscribers to my Substack will also become paying subscribers as I use the funds earned for the hosting and transcription service.

What I’d like to see happen is for my subscribers to cover the yearly cost for my podcasting fees. Again, I’m still at the ground level, but hosting fees are only $180/year and transcription via an AI is $100/year.

Not that much money, so for me, it’s worth the experiment.

This year I got to learn Substack, Otter.ai (transcription AI), and Libsyn’s podcast hosting tools.

All in all, it’s a win because I love learning new skills.

What does this have to do with my fiction writing?

Not much, but I can see how important it is to diversify my portfolio. A little affiliate income here, fiction writing there, non-fiction over here, and podcasting too—it all adds up in the end.

Long gone are the glorious days of just putting a book up on Amazon and making a ton of money.

Processes and Automation

I mentioned this last year, but it’s critical that I create processes that are not only repeatable, but easy to follow. Now when I need to format an ebook or print book, I have instructions that walk me through all the steps. The same Vellum article that I’ve shared out with fellow indie writers is what I use in case I need a refresher.

And I still use Trello and swear by it.

I can create “to do” lists and then easily prioritize, label, and organize the work. Now that I’ve been writing for more than a decade, I’ve learned how important it is to not only document my processes, but to refine them over time.

If you’ve never used Trello, here’s a 5-minute Loom video to show you an example of my Trello board with my book launch “to do” checklist.

On my personal Trello, I put all sorts of work: To do items not just for my author career, but for the house, and my activism work.

I can now easily keep track of my work and even do so through the Trello app on my iPhone. Now I can catch up on work while waiting in line at the supermarket or being a passenger in a car.

ScribeCount

I really wanted to quit using ScribeCount once they started charging a monthly fee. I cancelled my account, but resigned up again. Manually tracking my sales takes up too much time and having the breakdown on what’s selling and on what platform is worth the money.

I went wide back in 2021, but as the graphic above shows, 86.6% of my sales still come from Amazon. Of course, I’m not running any ads to any of the other publishing platforms, so take that for what it’s worth.

As for permafree books, I think their shine has dulled considerably over the last two years. There’s a glut of free books out there and I don’t think, at least for me, that the permafree marketing technique has worked for me.

I had better read through of my Cinderella books years ago, but now with outdated covers and so much competition, I am re-evaluating whether I’ll continue to offer book 1 of my series as a free reader magnet.

In 2021, I gave away nearly 25,000 free books (I spent more than a thousand dollars on newsletter ads), but I didn’t make my advertising money back. In 2022, I gave away more than 5,600 books, but spent $0 in marketing on my fiction. So I wasn’t surprised to see that I earned so little on my fiction books this year (around $175).

I’ve had several readers in the last few years who have thanked me for the free ebook that I gave away through my newsletter, but they then apologized that they wouldn’t be able to get to reading it because they had hundreds of other free ebooks on their Kindle.

Free books used to work for me, but the publishing business has changed dramatically over the last few years, and I’m pivoting away in a different direction.

ChatGPT

I listened to several podcasts that went into depth about ChatGPT and similar AI tools (thank you Joanna Penn and Leo Laporte), but I also read some great articles about this new GPT-3.5 AI.

What can I say?

We’re now at a spot in history where I can put in a simple prompt in a web browser, and an AI (ChatGPT) can create a fairly realistic draft of a story.

Does this frighten me?

Not really.

I knew this day would be coming. I’ve heard how companies are using AI to write their stories (especially financial articles), so I’m not surprised that we can easily use AI to generate stories.

Will this be the “end” of writing as we know it?

No, but I do expect that some authors will use AI to help them pump out more novels even faster. I’m not on that wild ride. That’s probably one of the reasons why my fiction sales are so low, but I’m not into churning out a book a month.

I’m interested in learning how ChatGPT works and will be curious to see GPT 4.0 that’s rumored to be coming in the near future. Will I use it to write stories or books? I don’t think so—at least not right now.

I like writing on my own. Maybe I’ll change my mind in the future. We’ll see.

I wanted to mention AI tools like ChatGPT because I think the publishing world won’t be the same. I expect journalists and college professors will mostly be affected by the new tool in 20232, but the AI creates some pretty nice fiction too.

Our world has changed and either we change with it and embrace the technology, or be passed by. I choose to learn it and understand it.

Summing It All Up

I needed to pull back in 2022. After writing a tremendous amount of books and working full time in 2020 and 2021, I needed to rest. I still got a lot accomplished this year, but not so much with my fiction. I wrote several short stories and one novel.

Yet I had a creative burst with my podcasts and learning new tools (Libsyn, Otter.ai, Substack, Mailerlite, and ChatGPT). In order for me to be creative, I need to have fun, recharge, and embrace life. Working all the time isn’t healthy for me. I can’t just work a full-time job and then spend the rest of my day writing and marketing.

I made time to write in my journal, listen to new music, watch (and learn) from a ton of YouTube videos, and to read. I’m working hard to carve even more time out to read. I read lots in the news, but I’ve expanded my reading to include history and also into genres that I love, but haven’t made time for (science fiction).

I can’t rave enough about Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem and can’t wait to watch the Netflix series that’s coming out in 2023.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I can’t sprint any longer. I need to gather my data, look at what’s working (and what isn’t), and make decisions on where I want my indie author career to go.

Maybe it’s writing fewer fiction books, more non-fiction, and supplementing with a podcast, Substack, and maybe an online course.

Who knows?

What I’ve learned in 2022 is that I like being creative. That doesn’t mean I’ll only write books. There’s a whole set of ways that I can be creative. And with AI and AR/VR upon us, I like dreaming big.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and I hope you found this post helpful.

Please note that there are affiliate hyperlinks used on this page and that I receive a small percentage of sales if you choose to purchase. I only recommend items that I have found helpful and useful, and am passing them on to you to help. Thank you!