[amayne]

Before I got into writing novels I had a small publishing business centered around books for magicians. I started this when James Randi off-hand mentioned to me that every magic book sold at least 300 copies because there were that many diehard collectors out there who bought everything.

I figured that if my break even was at or below 300 units I could put out two or so titles a year and not worry about going into debt. At the time a $40 book earned about $16 wholesale. Cost of printing was ~$3. I’d usually sell 200 copies directly ($7,400) and another 500 to wholesalers ($6,500.)

It averaged out to about $15,000 per book a year….but then the books kept selling year after year. Some made me over $250,000 in a ten year period. I hadn’t factored in for the long tail - which made it even more lucrative.

There are much better opportunities than publishing, but there’s some money to be made if you understand the actual addressable audience and have a passion for it.