In 2016 I showed you how the print market for romance, SF&F, and thriller genres was either dead or dying due to the fact that over half of each genre’s unit sales had gone digital.

The latest data from Author Earnings Report has added a new few new details to that shocking report.

Data Guy gave a presentation last month at the Nebula Awards where he did a deep dive into the SF&F market. While we don’t have a video of the presentation (nor audio), DG did post his slides.

This one in particular caught my eye. It shows how 48% of the market is off the radar of legacy sources like Nielsen, Pubtrack Digital, and the AAP.

Not only is the the market roughly twice as large as the industry stats show, the estimates from the Author Earnings Report also cast doubt on claims that author income is falling.

The thing is, most of the money from that 48% goes directly to authors, while only a fraction of the remaining 52% goes to authors. And with trad pub sales holding steady (almost), while self-pub sales growing, the collective author income – in this genre – has to have increased in the past decade, not fallen.

You can find out more on the Author Earnings site.