September 9th, 2025
I’m posting this to help ALLi — The Alliance of Independent Authors — get the word out about the update to their groundbreaking Indie Author Income Survey 2023. As ALLi puts it:
IT’S TIME to update the story only you can tell! ALLi’s 2025 Author Income Survey is now open and we need your data—anonymously—to push back against outdated “starving-artist” statistics and to shape the services we advocate for on your behalf.
The 2023 survey, which I worked on with Steve Sieck, provided some fascinating insights into the state of self-publishing at that time:
- Indie authors are earning more than their traditionally published peers. The median writing- and publishing-related income of self-published authors in 2022 was $12,749, a 53% increase over the previous year. In comparison, traditionally published authors in the US, UK, and Canada reported median incomes of just $6,000–$8,000, and those figures are declining.
- Income growth is strong among self-published authors. 60% of respondents said their self-publishing income increased in the past year, while only 17% reported a decrease—clear evidence that revenues for indies are growing even as traditional publishing incomes continue to fall.
- Top earners demonstrate the potential of self-publishing. While the median income highlights steady gains across the board, the average (mean) income for self-published authors in 2022 was $82,600, reflecting the significant success of high earners and showing what is possible when indie authors effectively combine strong craft with savvy publishing practices.
This year I’m working with Lettie Conrad to help build the back office for the new survey, and to tabulate and report the results.
Authors don’t need to be ALLi members to participate. To be eligible, authors must (1) have independently published at least one book in English and (2) must spend at least half their time on or make half their income from activities related to writing and publishing (including editorial and other publishing services, book-related speaking and teaching, licensing rights, publishing other authors, and other book-related income activities).
Please share the word with all of your author friends (and their associations). The survey closes September 17, 2025.
You can find the survey here:
https://allianceindependentauthors.org/survey