How I sold 13,468 books by going the self-publishing route

The traditional book publishing industry is populated with dinosaurs.

In 2019, after a long year of writing and rewriting, I wanted to traditionally publish our first nonfiction book, Becoming A Digital Marketer. I failed, but not for lack of trying.

Publishing is notoriously difficult. The average book only sells 250 to 300 copies in its lifetime. The average advance for a first-time book ranges from $1000-5000, and most books never earn out their advance. Competition is high. The stakes are low.

Yet, for several months I built my “packet” (a proposal, an outline of the book, selected chapters, information about my audience & qualifications) and sent queries in to just over 300 literary agents and presses.

I discovered mind-blowing facts about how publishing works. It is perhaps the most backwards white-collar industry that exists. Because it is an industry almost entirely populated by dinosaurs, it is gate-kept more than a NYC taxi driver’s medallion. People in journalism and media like to bemoan the fact that their industry is crumbling - but to be honest, I’m not even sure how it’s alive at all.

Out of those 300+ agents and presses:

• Some agents took 3+ months to respond

• Dozens told me that “submissions were closed” and I must wait until next year (for some reason, old school agents only read submissions from February-April).

• Many agents won’t accept digital submissions. You have to mail a packet.

• I received a single positive response, a helpful agent who ultimately ended up declining since the subject matter was outside of his niche.

Perhaps most confusingly and entertainingly, I received a rambling response from an angry lady named Maryann who clearly hated my guts for no specific reason. I saved the email chain because it was so bizarre:

MARYANN: Gil, this is just the outline of a proposal. I need to see a complete proposal. Please send the entire editorial and marketing case including a couple of sample chapters. What I’m looking for is the roughly 25-40 page document.

GIL: Maryann, thanks for the info - I don't have a proposal beyond what I sent, but I can send you the entire manuscript. Would that be enough?

MARYANN: No thank you, Gil. Without a proposal, there is no possibility of representation with a legitimate agency. Please do homework to learn what is required.

Remember, the average book only sells 250 to 300 copies. At this point, I wasn’t sure how the agent model was even viable. I couldn’t figure out how they take the time to read 25-40 pages, sell 250 copies, and make enough to buy ramen.

So, I turned to plan B, which was self-publishing. I spent another few months paying an editor, formatting the book, creating diagrams, designing the cover.

We put it on Amazon and pulled the trigger. We launched. We advertised. We did giveaways. I tweeted, a lot.

As of today, we have sold a total of 13,468 books for gross sales of $228,956 (actual royalties are less, of course: $73,686).

That first book has since sold 7,546 copies, briefly making it to #1 on the online marketing Amazon bestseller list. Universities began to include it in the syllabus for entry level marketing courses (around two dozen universities ranging from Gonzaga to McGill to the University of North Texas). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia referenced it in a government white paper.

It didn’t stop there: Building A Successful Micro-Agency sold 2,145 copies. Anya’s Beginner’s Guide To Google Ads sold 2,385 copies. My latest book, Unorthodoxy…never mind, nobody wanted to read that one.

Ironically, we were finally able to be traditionally published after a publisher reached out to translate and republish in French.

Considering our initial goal was simply lead generation for our business, I’d say that’s a wild success.

The book publishing industry was entirely blindsided by the internet, but here’s the deal.

The internet has been around since the 90s. If they haven’t been able to figure out how to click around on a computer for the last 3 decades, I do not really have much sympathy.

Best I can tell, with the exception of the very-large-name publishing houses, and a few niche presses, the book industry is going the way of the other print dodo, the newspaper industry.

Yet there are still people there, hanging on to the masts as the ship sinks further into obscurity.

One day, perhaps, the industry will be reinvented.