At Spirit Media, we become 50/50 partners with our authors. We partner with them equally in their success.
Publishing
Traditional Publishing Partners?
In the publishing industry, the traditional publishing of the past positioned publishers as the sole driver and revenue maker in publishing. The author would write their book. The publisher would pay the author a small fee for their manuscript and give them up to 10% of their royalties after all expenses were paid. In this model, authors historically received less than .70 cents per book sold. The publisher, NOT the author, made money off the sale of the book.
In 2023, the US publishing industry’s annual revenue was $29.9 billion. This was a 6.1% increase from 2019, before the pandemic. The global book publishing industry is expected to reach $113.69 billion by 2030.
Self Publishing Partners?
Self-publishing became popular in the 2010s, especially after the launch of the Alliance of Independent Authors in 2012. The number of self-published books in the United States grew rapidly, and the self-publishing market has continued to expand.
According to recent data, around 30-34% of all books sold, particularly ebooks, are estimated to be self-published, indicating a significant portion of the publishing industry is now self-publishing; with this number rapidly growing and representing a large share of the market, especially on platforms like Amazon.
Self-publishing is expected to continue to grow in the future, with more authors choosing to self-publish instead of using traditional publishing. Self-publishing offers more control and higher royalties, and it’s faster and easier than traditional publishing.
Book Sales
Whether a book is published by traditional publishing of the past or self-publishing of the future, the number one measure of success is book sales.
Intimidated by the daunting task of selling books, most Christian authors quickly replace book sales with impact. We say we’re about impact over profits. We scramble up our theology and doctrine believing God is pro-impact and anti-profits. This is not biblical. The truth is that books that sell achieve more impact than books that don’t. Most Christian authors would bear witness that God gave them their book. That the Holy Spirit inspired them to write their book. They would work hard to write it but then say: “I’m not about book sales. I’m about impact.” Isn’t Jesus worthy of his bookselling? Yes, He is!
Book Sales = Impact
According to industry estimates, less than 1% of published books achieve bestseller status, meaning the odds of a book becoming a bestseller are very low; some sources even state that only around 0.08% of books published in the US make it to bestseller lists annually.
A study by EPJ Data Science found that less than 0.5% of new hardcover books published each year make the New York Times Best Seller list.
Most self-published books sell only a handful of copies. Unfortunately, the vast majority of self-published authors do not achieve significant sales.
Partner 50/50 with Spirit Media
While traditional publishing provides authors less than $.70 per book sold, self-publishing can provide up to $7 per book in royalty.
On ABC’s Shark Tank, Mark Cuban points out all the time that: “10% of a watermelon is better than 90% of a grape.” His point is $.70 cents per book of 100,000 books sold is better than $7 per book of 100 books sold. The average book sells less than 250 copies per book.
Traditional Publishing represents a significant bearer of entry to 99% of Christian authors. Thank God for every Christian Author published by a traditional publisher! But, what about the other 99%?
Self-publishing represents a significant bearer of book sales to all self-published authors. The reason less than 1% achieve significant sales is because most authors are not good salespeople. Most self-published books lack any marketing strategy. They are put on the market, but never marketed.
Neither traditional publishing of the past nor self-publishing alone is a good, healthy, God-honoring model. Into this broken and dysfunctional divide enters Spirit Media with our 50/50 partnership in publishing.
We partner with our authors to publish and market their book(s) at cost deferring our profits until we both share a 50/50 split on royalties. This means we don’t make money unless books sell. There is no greater incentive for book sales! Every author needs this kind of 50/50 partner. Traditional publishers do not offer 50/50 partnerships to their authors. Self-publishing alone doesn’t offer authors any sort of partnership. Only Spirit Media’s 50/50 publishing partnership offers Christian authors this opportunity.
A healthy 50/50 partnership incentivizes and rewards both the author and the publisher. One is not moving forward while the other is left in the dust. They succeed together. This is honoring God!
Christian authors and Spirit Media already agree that:
- Books come from God.
- God owns all books.
- God’s books build faith.
- God calls us to publish (Psalm 96:3)
- Jesus is worthy of His bookselling.
- Book sales = Kingdom impact.
- Jesus is worthy of maximum impact.
Contact us today to discuss our 50/50 partnership in publishing. Let Spirit Media partner with you in your success.
