The thing I keep in mind is that a lot of traditionally published authors aren't making a living either.
That's what I was thinking, that the question isn't "will self-publishing make you rich?" but "would traditional publishing actually be *any better*?" Obviously, there are way more self-published authors making virtually nothing than ones selling thousands of books. But that doesn't answer whether the authors that aren't selling self-published would be able to get a traditional publisher, or if their books would sell if they did. Or if the authors who are selling thousands of copies would sell tens of thousands through a publishing house. I'm not even sure how you'd answer that question; maybe by finding a large random sample of authors who'd taken both routes, in both orders.
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That's what I was thinking, that the question isn't "will self-publishing make you rich?" but "would traditional publishing actually be *any better*?" Obviously, there are way more self-published authors making virtually nothing than ones selling thousands of books. But that doesn't answer whether the authors that aren't selling self-published would be able to get a traditional publisher, or if their books would sell if they did. Or if the authors who are selling thousands of copies would sell tens of thousands through a publishing house. I'm not even sure how you'd answer that question; maybe by finding a large random sample of authors who'd taken both routes, in both orders.