How to Build a $1 Million Author Business
✏️ Damn, those are some nice ass*ets ✏️
What Would It Take to Sell Your Author Business for $1 Million?
It might sound like a wild question, but thinking through the answer will reshape how you grow your publishing business and help you focus on what truly matters.
I’m not talking about earning $1 million a year in royalties (though that’s great too). I mean building a business so valuable that someone would buy it for $1 million or more.
Why does that matter?
Because assets often sell for far more than the income they generate. And a $1 million sale could radically change your life. With a safe withdrawal rate of 4%, that’s $40,000 a year for life.
Whether or not you ever plan to sell, the real question is:
What makes an author business valuable?
What are the assets worth building, and how do you increase their value?
When you understand where long-term value comes from in publishing, you can start creating stories and marketing your books with purpose. And that changes everything.
As a reminder, you can subscribe to Author Sidekick Plus for just $60/year or $10 a month and get free access to an exclusive workshop I run each month. May’s workshop is coming up, so now is a perfect time to join 😊.
Why Building REAL Assets for Your Author Business Matters Now More Than Ever
I’ve been reading a lot lately about post-labor economics, the ownership economy, and the shift toward automation of not just physical work but cognitive and creative work, too.
Massive changes are coming to how markets work. But here’s what I believe:
📚 Publishing will come out stronger.
🎯 Reader demand isn’t going anywhere and might even grow.
⚡ But the way authors create value must evolve.
Our industry already decouples labor (time spent writing) from value (income earned). The next wave will amplify this. AI, automation, and shifting reader habits will pressure the old systems but also open massive opportunities.
I’ve written more about those opportunities [here], including why I think the independent storyteller economy could 10x in the next few years. (And yes, I’m working on something behind the scenes to help make that happen 😉).
So… how do you thrive in this new era I call Self-Publishing 4.0?
Simple: build assets.
The right assets act as a moat during uncertainty and a lever during growth. They make your business more valuable, more resilient, and more scalable.
And the best part? You don’t have to guess what those assets are. I’ll show you exactly what to focus on.
The 3 Core Assets in Every Publishing Business and How to Build Them
As authors, we’re not just storytellers, we’re part of the larger media economy. That means we can learn a lot by looking at how media businesses are valued and acquired.
For example, anyone can list their business on Acquire.com, where indie founders sell companies across industries, including media. It’s fascinating to browse what’s being sold and for how much.
Most author businesses are acquired informally through relationships, but these listings give a sense of what makes a content-driven business attractive.
So what gives a publishing business real enterprise value?
Whether or not you ever plan to sell, understanding how to build value will help you grow a sustainable business, one that creates lasting income, opportunities, and reader impact.
Let’s break it down.
#1: Your Mailing List
Why it’s valuable: a proxy for the relationship you have with readers.
This is less about list size and more about consistent engagement over a long period of time. This can be measured by open rate on your emails, click-through rate, and the eventual conversion rate to products you promote on your list (and how much those products, on average, are purchased for).
Cost Per Email: this is ultimately how much your mailing list is worth. If you have 10,000 emails and each is worth $1 on average to an acquirer, then you have an email list worth $10,000.
A higher price per email is going to be based on your niche, history (how long your list has been around), average organic growth (without paid ads), and engagement.
How you can grow this asset: whether or not you ever plan to “value” your newsletter as an asset unto itself in your business, your mailing list can generate immense value for you. Here are the best ways to grow it:
Sell directly to readers when possible. Whether it’s PayHip, Fourthwall, Shopify, or just using a Stripe link, getting the emails of exactly who purchases your books is critical. Retailers don’t give you this data, and it’s why building a business solely on retailers is not much of a moat!
Grow your email list with targeted lead magnets. Whether you use paid ads, content, or collaborations (you can learn more about those in Day 4 of the Author Marketing Superpowers Bootcamp), creating an epic lead magnet can supercharge your newsletter. A lead magnet is simply something that someone gets in exchange for joining your newsletter. An “epic” lead magnet is something unique and awesome that your readers will love and will make them want to buy more from you. Make your free stories better than everyone else’s paid stories!
Deliver the “goods” with every email. Provide value to your readers so they want to open your emails again and again. What is your relationship to them, and why did they join your newsletter? If it’s to get new stories from you, try to make sure your updates are targeted to that!
Case studies: Duuce is a marketplace where anyone can list their newsletter for sale. It’s pretty cool to check out the niches and prices there!
P.S. You can read my article here on my Top 5 Newsletter Platforms for Authors in 2025.
#2: Trust — trust is the currency of everything (and certainly of book buying). Nothing really matters without this. And despite it not being “quantifiable” in an easy way, this is certainly the most valuable asset in your business.
Why it’s valuable: this is the trust that readers have in you to deliver amazing experiences. When readers trust you, they are more likely to use their social currency to recommend you to people who trust them (this is how you grow through word of mouth).
Humans are social creatures, and we engage in many behaviors, such as book-buying and reading, based on social signals from others. The more people who positively talk about your story, the more people will trust it, and the more people who will read your story.
There are three ways to think about trust:
Your relationship with your customers: this is the personal connection you and your brand have with readers. Sometimes this is nurtured at in-person signings, by responding to reader comments on Facebook, or emailing readers back who write in with questions about your stories.
Your brand promise and follow-through: this is what customers come to expect from your stories/brand and if you are consistent in delivering this to them at a high level. Ex: With the hit show Friends, you expect to be able to “hang” with a group of friends in their 20s and 30s, humorously navigating the obstacles life throws at them.
How you display social proof to new readers: this is your reviews, testimonials, and other ways you highlight how previous readers have loved your work. We are more likely to trust someone or something that others trust!
How you can grow this asset:
Surprises: deliver “magical moments,” as Pat Flynn calls them. These are extra surprises that turn a reader into a fan forever. Try sending one of your biggest fans a special story printed on a card for their birthday. Or when one of your beloved characters dies, host a funeral for them, and send the people who show up chocolates.
It’s the crazy, unscalable stuff that builds lasting relationships with readers. Plus, oftentimes people share this on social media and with friends forever. This can be your best marketing spend!
Reward word of mouth: what happens if someone shares your story on social media or tags someone on one of your posts? Thank them! This goes a LONG way and encourages even more sharing.
Taylor Swift rewarded her fans who interacted with her online by responding to their comments on Tumblr (over 10,000 times).
The creator of Exploding Kittens, Elan Lee, designed his Kickstarter to have stretch goals based on his fans sharing the project rather than reaching a specific dollar goal. They grew their funding from $2 million to $8 million for their board game in just 30 days.
Transparency: you don’t have to tell your readers what you ate for breakfast, or anything in your personal life. But transparency breeds accountability, and accountability breeds trust. If you have any facts or events in your books, back up your research with facts. Relate to your readers on why you write the stories you write and why you enjoy reading similar stories. This builds deeper connections and trust between you and your fans!
Underpromise and Overdeliver: this one is huge. When you set a release date, do your best to hit it. If you promise X number of books in a series, try to write more books in that series (or at least that many).
Case studies: whenever a publisher approaches an indie author to buy rights to an existing book or players like Podium and Tantor acquire audio rights from authors, it’s based on trust that the books will continue selling long into the future. You can get better deals in these relationships by displaying to these partners why readers trust you, and how, over time, you can maintain that trust moat over competition, so readers will keep buying your books.
#3: Products and Experiences for Readers (Beyond the Book! I even have a podcast about it)
Why it’s valuable: Your “media” can become a marketing engine for the core products and services your readers use in their everyday lives. Whether it be games, food, beauty products, or clothes, once you build trust and have a way to directly contact a group of readers, the possibilities are limitless.
How you can grow this asset:
Listen to the Beyond the Book Podcast and start to get an idea of the wild ways authors are going beyond the book now. This episode in particular is a good primer!
Plant specific products and experiences inside of your stories to prime your fans for when you may launch them one day. What about an ice-cream brand that’s space-themed? I’m all here for Space Cream. Cream that’s out of this world! Okay… maybe that won’t be the tagline.
Case studies:
Congo Brands is a portfolio of creator-led beverage companies, one of which was acquired for $1.8 billion.
When I worked for MrBeast, the majority of the company’s revenue came from Feastables, a mind-blowingly successful chocolate brand.
Tolan is an interactive app that brings a character to life in a new, immersive way.
Will we actually see author businesses get acquired?
It’s unlikely we'll see author businesses get acquired outright anytime soon.
Instead, deals for certain titles with publishers and other partners (whether it be foreign rights, audio, print, or even television deals) are more likely.
But the area that will transform publishing the most over the next decade is transforming the email lists and brand trust that authors have built into equity in other products and services that readers use.
Why can’t a romance author start a perfume brand? Or a wine company?
Or better yet? Why can’t a romance author partner with a wine company and get cash + equity to include those drinks in their books?
New companies are already making this “Ownership Economy” possible. Just check out OWM, the ownership management platform allowing creators to get equity in the brands they promote.
I’m excited for what’s to come.
Trust and attention are limited resources.
There are only so many people and brands that a person can reliably trust in a deep way. Likewise, there are only 24 hours a day, making attention finite and seemingly ever in more demand 😅.
The most important thing you can do as an author right now is focus on owning the channels where you connect with your readers and build their trust. Then, over time, that attention and trust will only continue to become more valuable in an ever-changing world.
I can’t wait to see the stories you create and the worlds you make for your readers.
I’ll be back with another Author Sidekick Essay soon 💙.
In the meantime, don’t forget…
Together we are boundless,
Michael Evans
The Author Sidekick