Continuing from my 2019 summary I once again want to talk about earnings as an indie publisher. I’m under no illusion about the fact that I’m operating at the bottom end of the scale with very little reach or name recognition but that’s part of why I want to report on these numbers, as I think it probably reflects on the scale that many hobbyist publishers are operating at.
So without further waffle here’s those numbers. Unlike last year I’m going to focus on just paid sales rather than total downloads.
drivethruRPG
| Product | Sales in 2020 | 2020 Earnings ($) | Total sales | Total Earnings ($) | |
| Channel Surfing* | 4 | 3.11 | 8 | 8.23 | |
| A Demonic Fiasco* | 5 | 3.45 | 5 | 3.45 | |
| Lockdown* | 2 | 1.20 | 10 | 6.97 | |
| Talentless Hacks* | 3 | 2.40 | 5 | 3.10 | |
| Missionary Opposition* | 2 | 1.20 | 9 | 9.00 | |
| Trick of the Light* | 2 | 1.20 | 8 | 8.22 | |
| The Tannhauser Investment* | 4 | 4.23 | 4 | 4.23 | |
| The Synth Convergence | 46 | 63.77 | 62 | 111.77 | |
| Mission Packet 1* | 27 | 19.13 | 27 | 19.13 | |
| Mission Packet 2 | 16 | 12.40 | 16 | 12.40 | |
| The Synth Divergence | 3 | 5.85 | 3 | 5.85 | |
| What’s so [redacted] about [redacted] | 4 | 7.80 | 4 | 7.80 | |
| Total earnings | 125.74 | 200.15 |
Numbers do not include any earnings from the affiliate program.
itch.io
| Product | Sales in 2020 | 2020 Earnings ($) | Total sales | Total Earnings ($) | |
| Channel Surfing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| A Demonic Fiasco* | 1 | 0.57 | 1 | 0.57 | |
| Lockdown* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Talentless Hacks* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Missionary Opposition* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Trick of the Light* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| The Tannhauser Investment | – | – | – | – | |
| The Synth Convergence | 17 | 40.02 | 19 | 50.74 | |
| Mission Packet 1 | 11 | 15.08 | 11 | 15.08 | |
| Mission Packet 2 | 7 | 7.48 | 7 | 7.48 | |
| The Synth Divergence | 3 | 6.89 | 3 | 6.89 | |
| What’s so [redacted] about [redacted] | 3 | 2.09 | 3 | 2.09 | |
| The Stars will Carry you Home | 1 | 1.41 | 1 | 1.41 | |
| Project Cassandra (beta) | 4 | 13.48 | 4 | 13.48 | |
| Total earnings | 87.02 | 97.74 |
#Provisional, the final total may end up different from this initial reporting.
Thoughts
Across 2019 my total earnings came to ~£110, roughly half of which came from the stretch goal writing for the Crystal Heart Kickstarter. This year the total reaches $212.76, or ~£158. That’s just from direct sales of my own products. There’s another $25/£18 if I add in sales from bundles that I participated in.
In terms of totals that’s not a big jump but given that has come exclusively from sales of my own work (or bundles that I contributed to) it’s a massive jump. Unsurprisingly the vast majority of that has come from The Synth Convergence, with strong sales on both drivethruRPG and itch.io. Sales on drivethruRPG spiked after I put it on a 75% off pandemic sale but even after returning to its full price sales have continued to trickle in thanks to a bundle that adds both Mission Packets. While the absolute number of sales on itch.io have been lower the inclusion of tips and lower cut have brought its total earnings up.
That itch boost means the two sites are much closer than I would have initially expected, though I don’t feel like I’m seeing the sort of difference that many people in the indie community regularly talk about. I think that only really comes when you have an established following, which I don’t. I’ve made some small progress in getting my name out this year but not nearly as much as I’d have liked. I’d hoped that 2020 was going to be Convention heavy but, well it was 2020 and despite the many online offerings the online conventions never properly clicked for me.
So where do I go for 2021? Realistically the only way is up, as I’m working towards a ZineQuest 3 Kickstarter with a goal in excess of my existing earnings. I wouldn’t be surprised though if my total take home for the year is lower though, as the majority of the Project Cassandra money will be spent on its production, which doesn’t include a substantial writing budget. After that I’ve got a number of smaller projects planned but I don’t expect them to have the pull that The Synth Convergence had.
