I am immensely grateful to authors Leslie Johansen Nack and J.A. Wright for sharing the following information about their hybrid publishing experience with She Writes Press. Very few authors are willing to put their numbers on the line and attach their name to those numbers. It takes courage. I hope their openness inspires more people to disclose this information, no matter how they choose to publish. Financial transparency empowers all authors and helps everyone make better, more informed decisions.
However, be aware that the more successful the author, the more likely they are to share their figures. People who have disappointing sales aren’t eager to make that fact known, for fear of hurting their chances at future success or contracts. Some authors may worry they’ll look foolish or vain given the investments they’ve made. And, in the US at least, our culture often equates sales success with quality and self-worth.
So it’s no surprise that when I reached out to numerous authors for sales information, I was turned down by most unless I agreed to report their information anonymously. I think it’s very hard to evaluate such figures without knowing the book and author in question, so I prioritized those willing to be named.
These two authors earned back their investment. Only a small percentage of authors manage that, so their stories should not be taken as typical or average. But at least it shows what kind of success the hybrid path is capable of producing.
Note that a standard She Writes Press publishing package is $10,000 as of April 2025. That price does not include editing, publicity, or printing.
Leslie Johansen Nack
- Titles: Fourteen (memoir, 2014) and The Blue Butterfly (novel, 2022)
- Base rate paid to She Writes Press: $3,900 for Fourteen and $4,900 for The Blue Butterfly
- Print run costs for The Blue Butterfly: $4,500 for 1,500 copies, plus $1,110 in shipping (Nack also paid for the Fourteen print run and shipping, figures unavailable)
- Publicity cost: $15,000 for Fourteen and $20,000 for The Blue Butterfly, paid to Booksparks (owned by the same parent company as She Writes Press)
- Audiobook narrator: $4,500 for the most recent book
- Sales for Fourteen: 13,000 (print and ebook combined) plus 1,200 audiobooks
- Sales for The Blue Butterfly (no sales figures available when this article was first published)
Nack says she has earned back her investment on the first book. “Publicity matters. I invested $15,000 in a PR contract with Booksparks in 2015, and it paid off handsomely. I got two national reviews [on Fourteen] and everybody who sails seemed to have bought my book. I also did a big book tour. That cost me money too. If nobody knows about your book, then they can’t buy it. I am investing in me. This is my dream career after raising a family and putting everybody else first. I was happy to put everybody else first, but now it’s my turn to live my best life!”
She also adds, “I think writing a good book, and having it edited and vetted matters. … I am building a platform for myself as a writer. I want to be taken seriously. I am not a fly-by-night and one-time author. I have dreams of publishing many books. … I am spending serious money and I’m glad we have it to spend.”
J.A. Wright
- Title: How to Grow an Addict (novel, 2015)
- Base rate paid to She Writes Press: $3,900
- Printing and shipping costs: $29,500 for 13,500 copies
- Publicity costs: $7,000 to Booksparks (owned by the same parent company as She Writes Press)
- Advertising costs: $64,005 for Facebook and Amazon ads
- Sales: 25,097 (all formats combined)
- Royalty earnings: $111,279
The audiobook rights were sold to Tantor Audio in 2017, who paid all costs of production. Wright says, “While my profit isn’t much ($6,500), the lessons I’ve learned and my newfound knowledge regarding advertising will be invaluable to my second novel, Eat and Get Gas.”
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.