I'd say that it's definitely worth trying.
I've written a niche technical book in Italian, and self published on Amazon. I have spent 0 on marketing and no efforts at all on building a public, except a few posts on LinkedIn and a few chats with friends and customers.
The result is about 500 copies sold on Amazon alone since publication (January 2016), and the book is still selling today (roughly 3000 € total before taxes).
You probably won't get much money from that, but it's still worth it: I got several contacts, nice reviews of the book, and got invited to a couple of conferences. Incredibly, the book even went up to position 1 on Amazon chart in its category a couple of times.
What I found is that:
- very few copies of niche books are actually sold (at least in Italy). I was told by an expert that if you sell more than 300 copies it's considered a success;
- people will find you even without any marketing, if you address a need;
- a book can get you contacts;
- if you do it for the money, your time is definitely better spent elsewhere.
So I'll be publishing a second book, but this time with an editor, and in English, hoping to reach a broader audience (publication date is at the end of March, so I'll know more by then).
Good luck
Attached you'll a screenshot of the historical data of the book on kdp (Kindle Direct Publishing).
I've written a niche technical book in Italian, and self published on Amazon. I have spent 0 on marketing and no efforts at all on building a public, except a few posts on LinkedIn and a few chats with friends and customers.
The result is about 500 copies sold on Amazon alone since publication (January 2016), and the book is still selling today (roughly 3000 € total before taxes).
You probably won't get much money from that, but it's still worth it: I got several contacts, nice reviews of the book, and got invited to a couple of conferences. Incredibly, the book even went up to position 1 on Amazon chart in its category a couple of times.
What I found is that:
- very few copies of niche books are actually sold (at least in Italy). I was told by an expert that if you sell more than 300 copies it's considered a success;
- people will find you even without any marketing, if you address a need;
- a book can get you contacts;
- if you do it for the money, your time is definitely better spent elsewhere.
So I'll be publishing a second book, but this time with an editor, and in English, hoping to reach a broader audience (publication date is at the end of March, so I'll know more by then).
Good luck
Attached you'll a screenshot of the historical data of the book on kdp (Kindle Direct Publishing).