Should Fantasy Authors Self-Publish? 7 Surprising Insights
Bella Rose Emmorey
book editor, rogue behaviorist, digital marketer, writer, brand builder, plant aunt, and cheese enthusiast.
The question of should fantasy authors self-publish is going to get a big ol’ fat yes from me. But let’s not be too hasty in determining if that’s the best route for a thriving professional career as an author. There might be much to gain from traditional publishing in this genre.
It’s no secret that you can respectfully self-publish by now. If you can write, get a cover designed, and figure out the uploading process, you can publish! But it’s important to think about your career as a whole.
Not all authors should self-publish. While you may have the access to, it might not make sense in the long-term depending on your goals.
Right now, though, we’re going to specifically explore if fantasy authors should self-publish or not.
Do fantasy books sell well? Self-Publishing Perks for Fantasy Authors
If you’re smart, which I’m hoping you are, then you’ll want to look into how well books sell given the different publishing options. That is, if you want to earn a living from your books.
For fantasy authors, the good news is this genre is getting its moment in the spotlight.
While romance has been a top seller for years, fantasy—thanks to reading fan groups and the advent of $ romantasy$ —is quickly climbing in the rankings. According to $ this report$ , it hit record sales numbers in 2023, and it’s only been climbing since.
But the high selling market isn’t the only perk of fantasy authors self-publishing. Here are a few more perks and benefits to help answer the question: Should fantasy authors self-publish?
1. Dedicated fan base
The fantasy fan base is large and specific. They like their genre, and some don’t even read outside of it. Most importantly, if they find an author they like, they’ll read every book—including future publications.
If you can make a fan, you’ll likely keep them for life.
2. Faster publishing timeline
One of the most significant advantages of self-publishing is the ability to bring your book to market much more quickly than traditional publishing, assuming it’s the right $ time to publish for fantasy$ .
As a self-published fantasy authors, you have:
- Immediate Publication: Once your book is written, edited, and formatted, you can publish it immediately. This allows you to capitalize on current trends and reader demand without waiting for a publisher's schedule—hello $ writing-to-market$ .
- Rapid Releasing: You can quickly release sequels, prequels, or spin-offs, keeping your readers engaged and maintaining momentum. This is especially beneficial in fantasy, where readers often crave more content from their favorite authors. Plus, fantasy readers are suckers for a good series. If you can write and publish all 3 books in a trilogy in, say, a month, it’s more likely to get a boost on Amazon and sell even more.
- Flexibility: If you want to update your book or make changes, self-publishing platforms allow you to do so easily, ensuring your work remains current and appealing. Doing cover re-releases is a great way to refresh older titles where the cover trend has died away, but the book itself is still great.
3. More royalties
You make a higher percentage. That much is known. You can even hack the system and write strategically to get the $ best royalty rates$ , if you’re smart about it.
Most traditionally published authors make about 10% royalties, which isn’t much per book. Self-published authors can get anywhere from 50%-70% depending on the platform.
4. You’ll have to market the book anyway
A publishing house might be able to distribute your books to more book stores, sure, but 71% of books are bought online anyways ($ as of 2021$ ). Your publisher won’t do as much as you assume they would, especially if you’re an unproven, first-time author.
So if your only reason for not self-publishing is because you don’t want to market your book…I’ve got some bad news for you.
Which means if you’re going to do all that work yourself anyway, you may as well benefit from it. See #3 above.
5. Write what you want, how you want
Publishing houses aren't much into gambling. They want to buy what they know will sell. They’re not taking huge risks.
One of those "risks" seems to be quality books that have quality representation in all areas. You can write whatever you want and self-publish it. There is a market out there for your lesbian monster erotica and your disabled hero epic adventure.
In fact, these books are desperately needed to help shape our culture to be more accepting, and uh, not bigoted. The more availability of these books, the more the audience will grow, and the more books will be written.
Plus, you might have a vision for a book or genre blending that you can’t find anywhere else. As long as you fall within the $ rules of fantasy$ , you get to chart a course for different fantasy if you self-publish—more on that below.
Growing & Untapped Fantasy Markets
Innovation is the name of the game for fantasy authors. Whether or not a fantasy authors self-publish comes down to deciding how much freedom you want within the genre.
The truth of traditional publishing is that agents and houses are looking for something sellable. Which means it needs to have ties to what’s already selling well. For those of us wanting to break the mold of what’s already been done before, self-publishing offers the most opportunity for something new.
While there are always plenty of ways to $ write to market$ , you can also write up market. Which means writing something new that has the potential to become popular. Anticipating a trend. Creating a new$ fantasy subgenre$ , even.
Because the $ fantasy genre$ is rapidly growing, more readers are open to trying new types of books. They’re no longer seeking exactly what they’ve already read 100 times over.
So if you want to tap into new fantasy markets, or even create your own, now is the time.
Here’s a list of growing and untapped fantasy markets to dig into:
- Progression fantasy - growing: Focuses on characters who grow stronger or more skilled through training, leveling up, or other means surrounding magic or martial arts and other abilities. Think The Poppy War.
- LitRPG (Literary Role-Playing Game) - growing: Combines traditional fantasy with elements of role-playing games, such as stat sheets, quests, and leveling up.
- Gaslamp - growing: Set in a Victorian or Edwardian-like era with elements of magic and steampunk. Explores themes of industrialization, societal change, and often includes romance.
- Portal - growing but also comeback: The Chronicles of Narnia has remained one of the most popular children's books for decades, and it's one of the obvious examples of portal fantasy. While this subgenre dipped in popularity (other than our boy Clive Staples Lewis), interest in portal fantasy is rising again.
- (but make it spicy) - growing: Take our old, beloved children’s tales, age everyone up, add sex. Trust, retellings are possible, popular, $ and legal$ (usually)!
- Mythpunk - untapped: Blends mythology, folklore, and fairy tales with a postmodern or subversive twist. Often includes themes of rebellion against traditional narratives and structures.
- Silkpunk - untapped: Inspired by East Asian antiquity and technology, combining traditional fantasy elements with ancient engineering and innovations.
- Cyber fantasy - untapped: One could also consider this $ science fantasy$ , but it also features magic in futuristic or tech-driven settings.
- Weird west fantasy - untapped: Explores frontier life with a fantastical twist, often blending genres like horror and adventure, with a very western-vibe setting.
- Space fantasy - untapped: Also similar to science fantasy but more specific to the focus of magic use and presence in the setting of space.
- Biopunk fantasy - untapped: Focuses on biotechnology and genetic engineering in a fantastical context.
While growing markets are already picking up speed, the untapped markets are those that exist and certainly have an audience waiting in the wings. They’re underserved, and therefore perfect for fantasy authors who are self-publishing.
Considerations for Traditionally Publishing Fantasy
The traditional industry will always publish fantasy. They’re all on a mission to find the next Brandon Sanderson or Sarah J Maas. It’s just not as easy, and you don’t have as much freedom.
If you’re willing to put in the work to get an agent and are patient enough for a 2-year timeline just to publish your book (after getting the book deal), then it’s a great option! Plus, then you can focus almost exclusively on the writing instead of the book production process, like paying for an editor, cover design, and formatting (though if you have the right $ writing software$ the last bit doesn’t much matter).
And if you have connections in the publishing world—you know agents and editors—it’s definitely worth pulling those strings to see what may come of it. You never know!
Just remember to do your research and understand what agents are actually looking for.
Usually, the answer to should fantasy authors self-publish is a yes. Even if you want to traditionally publish, building an audience and proven readership yourself first can significantly increase your odds of an agent taking notice, and a publishing house wanting a deal with you.
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