My 2025 Income Streams & Book Stats as a Self-Published Author

Introduction and Income Stream Breakdown00:00:00

Maddie Lin introduces her annual review of income as a self-published author. She explains that while she is an author, her income is heavily supported by her YouTube channel, courses, and her role as a full-time mom. She shares her income streams in order of profitability: Teachable courses (57.2%), Google AdSense/YouTube (24.2%), Amazon book sales (8%), Kickstarter (6.1%), Shopify (1.9%), sponsorships (1.3%), freelance work (0.6%), and TikTok Shop (0.5%).

Consolidated Book Sales00:08:47

Maddie combines all book-related income streams, including TikTok Shop, Amazon, Shopify, and Kickstarter, revealing that books make up 16.5% of her total income. She then begins analyzing specific Amazon book sales, noting that her planners and writing guides are the top sellers because they target the audience she reaches through YouTube.

Amazon Book Sales by Title00:09:50

Maddie lists her best-selling books on Amazon by title. Her Novel Outline Planner leads at 28.2%, followed by her Book Launch Planner (16.9%) and Plan a Profitable Book Launch (10.6%). She notes that non-fiction books for writers dominate the list, with fiction titles like Meet Me at the Summit appearing further down at 4.7%.

Kindle Unlimited Page Reads00:15:08

Maddie discusses Kindle Unlimited page read stats, which differ from direct book sales. Meet Me at the Summit leads at 24.7%, followed by Sparks in Iceland (18.8%) and Plan a Profitable Book Launch (17.2%). She identifies that her fiction book The Trail to You and Me has low page reads despite selling well, suggesting she needs to market it better as a standalone novel.