Samuel Brannan? Have you ever heard that name? In 1848, he became California’s first millionaire because of the California Gold Rush that year.
Yet, Brannan didn’t make his fortune directly from panning for gold. Rather, he sold shovels. Brannan owned a store that made huge profits by selling goods to miners. He made as much as $5,000 per day, which is about $200,000 per day in 2024 currency.
Brannan’s success has led to the saying that one should sell shovels in a gold rush–as opposed to digging for gold.
As I’ve slogged along through my self-publishing journey. I’m reminded of this saying.
The folks who make money from self-publishing books are not authors but the people who sell “how-to” advice and other materials to authors.
A major surge in self-publishing has occurred over the past 10 to 15 years, with over two million self-published books reported in 2021. That’s up from just over 500,000 self-published books in 2011.
Unfortunately, this surge has oversaturated the book market. Most indie authors sell merely to family and friends. The bleak market means that 90% of self-published books sell less than 100 copies. Once authors recover costs, they can expect a few hundred dollars in profit per book.
That said, I’m inundated with daily emails from self-help websites, videos, and other marketing materials from the “Samuel Brannan” folks of the self-publishing industry. Based on my anecdotal experience, a cottage industry has cropped up to “help” authors market and sell their books.
Based on the volume and quality of these marketing materials, folks seem to be selling a lot of shovels to would-be authors. To be clear, I don’t begrudge them. I say more power to them–and Samuel Brannan.
However, I am saddened a bit by these statistics. Gold rushes are a fool’s folly, but books? I would hope for a better fare. “I cannot live without my books!”