Another, even more comprehensive, report from Hugh Howey and Data Guy.
The good news: there are thousands of authors earning a living wage from writing, some of whom seldom or never appear on the bestseller lists. The bad news: this still represents a relatively small percentage of authors. But it appears that the advent of ebooks has grown the total market and made it possible for more people to make a living out of writing.
The other news: There are still reasons to pursue traditional publishing (either with the Big 5 or a small press), but, except for a very small number of authors, earning more money is no longer one of those reasons. This becomes clearer with every report they release.
I know as an indie, I’ve been seeing a lot of momentum, particularly since the Kindle Unlimited borrowing program started paying per page read. It’s helped get my books higher ranks and more exposure, so it’s jumped sales, too. Ended up selling 400 books last month, which is really good for me.
Yeah, I know a number of authors, some with contracts with the big publishing houses, wikipaedia entries, etc, and only a few are able to live comfortably off their work. Same for web comic artists. It’s a hard grind, but very cool to see from unimaginative side.