Based on the image in this post, doesn't it seem as though writing and marketing your own books is a good way to make a living? All you have to do is read one of these "how-to" books, self-publish, and deposit royalty payments.

I've been following a few subreddits where first-time, unknown authors ask questions about writing, self-publishing, and book marketing.

If you are an unknown self-published author hoping or assuming you will make money selling your books, here are the current statistics for sales:

• The absolute baseline average for a self-published book is roughly 250 copies over its lifetime.  
• Approximately 90% of self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies in total. For many debut titles, the majority of initial traction (often fewer than 20–50 copies in the first month) comes almost exclusively from friends and family.
• 75% of self-published authors earn less than $1,000 per year from their catalog. Eighteen percent earn between $1,000 and $10,000 annually. Only about 7% earn more than $10,000 a year, which usually requires a multi-book catalog or backlist.

I am you, and these statistics apply to me as much as they do to you, with one exception. My Unlived Lives books in all three formats have sold over 1,700 copies to date. How?

I invested serious marketing money to make that happen, and as of now, the Unlived Lives project is neither profitable nor at break-even. I didn't expect it to be. I did it to build awareness for future sales once all three books were available in all three formats.

They are now; it remains to be seen how good an investment that will be.

​I'm not trying to discourage you from writing. On the contrary, if you enjoy writing, write! But do so with realistic expectations about the financial side.

Don't spend money you need for other aspects of your life. Earning a living writing is an extremely tough game. You could be one of the very few who make it work, but what if you're not?

You've worked hard writing your book, now work even harder/smarter with reasonable expectations for how and what it will cost to market it.

Now that all three books in the Unlived Lives trilogy are published in all three formats (well, not exactly. Still waiting for Reckoning in audiobook format to clear the ACX review process. Should be any day now), I thought I would check in on the Many Worlds Interpretation debate/argument. 

Emphasis on "argument."

Generally, two science nerds, one who believes there are an infinite number of universes parallel to the one we inhabit, the other certain there are not, arguing about something that cannot be proved or disproved.

Personally, I don't concern myself with any of that. I chose to write the trilogy as though they did exist simply because it seemed like it could make good fiction.

Back to my update, I searched for "Many Worlds theory argument," and the first result was Joe Scott and his video, The Most Convincing Parallel Universe Story.  

Joe's presentation style eases the viewer into a subject that is challenging for solid C science students like me. But I grasped enough to keep watching to the end.

If you've read or listened to one, two, or all three of the Unlived Lives trilogy and have 18 minutes of free time, watch Joe straddle both sides of the Many Worlds theory debate (argument).

​Doing so won't help you understand what you didn't in my books, but you should enjoy it nevertheless. 

If you've written a book or are contemplating writing a book, look at my Meta Ad Manager page.

Intimidated?

If not, if you know what that's about, move on; there's nothing for you to see here.

If you haven't a clue what this is, don't move on; read on.

I was you when I released The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn in October 2024, book one of the Unlived trilogy. I had learned much more by October 2025, when the sequel to Raymond, The Unlived Lives of Shelly Bennett, came out. The Unlived Lives Reckoning is now available, and while I know even more than I did for Raymond and Shelly, I'm still learning.

Don't do as I did and publish your book with no idea how to market it. Don't pay others who promise to do marketing for you.

They will, for a price, and the great majority of them are scams.

I am not a book marketing expert, but I have learned a great deal about marketing my books with sales to prove it. I can help you begin to learn what you need to know to have a chance at sales success for your book.

I won't ask you to pay me anything. I'm just paying forward the help others gave me.  

On August 30, 2024, I published the first entry in what has become the Unlived Lives Trilogy blog.

It wasn't a trilogy then; there was barely one book, and I had no intention of writing any more. But here we are now three books later. 

I'm publishing the text and image again here because what I had to say about the project is as true today as it was on 8/30/2024. The big difference is the story did not end with Raymond. It now includes a full cast of characters exploring their unlived lives, both alone and together, throughout the world and the multiverse.
​

"Raymond's story has a puzzle hidden among all the words. If you enjoy doing puzzles, you will enjoy reading his story.

When you assemble a puzzle, you see the individual pieces and must find how to put them all together. You don't see the complete picture until you put all the pieces where they belong.

There are no physical puzzle pieces in Raymond's story, but it is a puzzle nevertheless. The pieces are the individual interactions he has with others, and none more than with Asian. What they say and do becomes clear to you when you reach the end.

If you read the book, read carefully, paying attention to the details. Do that, and you will be rewarded with the ending.

​The end of the beginning, the beginning of something new for some, maybe you.