Do some genres of self-published books sell better than others?

1. 86

   M. T. Dremerposted 8 years ago

   Do some genres of self-published books sell better than others?
   
   There's a niche market for almost every genre in the publishing industry, but do some genres sell better (when self published) than others? Which genre would you be least likely to buy from an untested author?

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2. 80

   dashingscorpioposted 8 years ago

   "Self-help" or "How to" books stand a better chance of selling.
   Essentially the author is writing about something he/she has expertise in and there are bound to be people who would buy a book to learn more on that specific subject. You're selling knowledge!
   Self-help books also easily lend themselves to having speaking engagements and conducting seminar/workshop classes where more books can be sold. Over the last couple of years I've offered a couple of  continuing education classes through my school district a few times a year where my book is packaged as a material fee for the class.
   Each student pays me the full amount $10 for the book in class.
   Naturally books sold during seminars/workshops and the like aren't counted when it comes to "best seller"  list rankings because the author is supplying the books as opposed to having the reader order them through Amazon or wherever. Nevertheless having the option to sell books in person still can put money in one's wallet. The beautiful thing about the continuing education classes is the author simply writes a course description and the school district prints up the catalogs and mails them to current and past students. In my case they also pay me an hourly fee to teach a class around the principle of my book. These classes are a "one and done" deal lasting no more than 2 hours. I like doing classes on Saturdays from 10AM- Noon.
   Every self-published author could write a proposal to their school district or local community colleges offering to teach a class on "how to self-publish a book". Naturally you'd have some copies of your own book to pass around for them to look at. Odds are some students will buy a copy from you.
   You could also log onto Meetup.com and look up book clubs and other groups that may be related to your book. Check with the organizer to see if they might be interested in having a guest speaker/author for a meeting. Always bring copies of your book.

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   1. 74

      quildonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Really great advice!

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3. 75

   KoffeeKlatch Galsposted 8 years ago

   That is a very good question.  I hope someone knows the answer.  I would most likely buy a mystery from an unknown writer.

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4. 61

   Link10103posted 8 years ago

   Might sound like its from left field. but apparently erotica thats self published does really well.
   
   I looked up how to earn money from home and such a while back, passive income from writing was mentioned and self publishing on Amazon was one of the top ways to earn money.

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5. 71

   Old-Empresarioposted 8 years ago

   Yes, some sell better than others. In fiction, I won't buy fantasy or science fiction from an untested author. Both genres are a cop-out for someone who lacks life experience and who knows nothing about the real world or history. That said, I probably would not buy historical fiction from an untested author either. One of the biggest problems we have today in the fictional world is that everyone sees themselves as a potential fictional writer. They forget that it's hard. And those who can write well and are well-read on the classics typically come from academia and so have no life experience outside campus/home life. So what do they write about?--marriage, frustrations about their jobs, boring crap that none of us should care about.  What tends to sell these days is satire that is not written like a proper book. And by "proper book", I mean one that simply has pages and pages of words. We've regressed as a species and require pictures with bullet points and jokes and little marginal notes--not unlike a comic book.
   Non fiction is completely different though. One might have better luck in that arena.

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6. 79

   Kennedi Brownposted 8 years ago

   Definitely. I hear it's near impossible to move books that aren't nonfiction. I've been meaning to write a nonfiction book just to test that theory out, but the only thing I'm an authority on is Instant Ramen.

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