12 Publishing Business Success Stories [2024]
Starting a publishing business can be a rewarding and lucrative endeavor for those with a passion for literature and strong business acumen. This type of business involves producing and distributing written materials such as books, magazines, and digital content.
To start a publishing business, you need a solid business plan outlining your goals and target market. You will also need to secure funding to cover the costs of printing and distributing your materials. This can include obtaining loans or seeking investors.
In addition to financial resources, you will need a team of professionals with expertise in editing, design, marketing, and sales. It’s important to build a diverse and skilled team to ensure the success of your business.
Success in the publishing industry requires a strong understanding of current trends and adapting to changing market conditions. Stay current on industry news and continually seek new opportunities to grow and expand your business.
Starting a publishing business requires hard work, dedication, and a willingness to take risks. But with the right team and strategy, it can be a fulfilling and profitable venture.
In this list, you'll find real-world publishing business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a publishing business that makes money.
1. Reedsy ($24M/year)
Ricardo Fayet, CMO of Reedsy, didn't come up with the idea for the book publishing services marketplace. His co-founder Emmanuel mentioned it to him in university, and it stood out as a promising idea that leveraged the growing self-publishing trend and freelance economy movement in traditional publishing. They validated the idea by talking to industry experts and built a core team to bring it to life.
How much money it makes: $24M/year
How much did it cost to start: $40K
How many people on the team: 38
Reedsy, a book publishing services marketplace that connects authors with freelancers, has driven over $1m in GMV, features over 1,500 vetted freelance professionals, and sees over 1,000 projects every month.
2. Forbes Books ($18M/year)
Adam Witty, the Founder & CEO of Advantage|ForbesBooks, came up with the idea for his business while working at a publishing company during his high school summer internship. Inspired by the creation, marketing, and sales of books, he later partnered with his boss to start a publishing company for entrepreneurs. He realized the power of a book as a marketing tool and developed Advantage into one of the largest business book publishers in America, offering a range of publishing and marketing services to help authors grow their businesses.
How much money it makes: $18M/year
How many people on the team: 81
Adam Witty started Advantage|ForbesBooks, one of America's largest business book publishers with sales over $1.5 million per month, which offers pain-free book creation and specializes in Authority Marketing™ for entrepreneurs and business leaders, achieving seven out of the past eight years in the Inc. 5000 list of America's most rapidly growing private companies, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, amongst others, growing his business through customer referrals, speaking, and advertising both online and offline.
3. Scribe Media ($15.6M/year)
Tucker Max, a successful author himself, came up with the idea for Scribe Media when a fellow entrepreneur challenged him to find a solution for busy individuals who wanted to write a book but lacked the time or patience to go through the traditional publishing process. He realized that by using interview-based conversations and transcriptions, he could capture their ideas and words, allowing them to "talk" their book into existence. Since its launch in 2014, Scribe Media has worked with over 1,500 authors and generated over $1.3 million in monthly revenue.
How much money it makes: $15.6M/year
How many people on the team: 51
4x New York Times Bestselling Author Tucker Max co-founded Scribe Media in 2014, a book writing, publishing, and marketing service that has worked with over 1,500 authors and generates over $1.3 million a month, with a range of services priced between $10k-$100k+.
4. Prime Publishing LLC ($7.2M/year)
Stuart Hochwert, founder of Prime Publishing LLC, came up with the idea for his business while noticing that traditional print publishers in the Arts and Crafts space were experiencing circulation declines. Seeing the shift of "eyeballs" moving online, he developed a plan to create a free website focused on Arts and Crafts, leading to the launch of FaveCrafts.com. This decision, along with strategic marketing efforts and the addition of premium content, has contributed to Prime Publishing's success, generating over $10 million in advertising revenues and diversifying their revenue streams.
How much money it makes: $7.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $650K
How many people on the team: 46
Stuart Hochwert grew his company Prime Publishing LLC to generate over 30 million monthly page views and $7 million in annual revenue by creating free, advertising-supported cooking and crafting websites and premium, ad-free digital products.
5. Nourishing Brands ($7.2M/year)
Jeremy Hendon, co-founder of Nourishing Brands, came up with the idea for the business after experiencing the benefits of a low carb Paleo diet. He noticed the rising popularity of the keto diet and decided to create the Keto Summit, a digital event featuring top experts. The success of the summit led to the company's shift towards cookbooks, courses, and meal plans, and they have since sold over 300,000 cookbooks in 2020 alone.
How much money it makes: $7.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 10
Nourishing Brands is a direct-to-consumer media company that generates more than $600k per month and sold over 300,000 cookbooks in 2020 through their popular health websites like KetoSummit.com by transitioning from digital events to cookbooks, evergreen courses, and paid media.
6. EOFire LLC ($1.8M/year)
In 2012, John Lee Dumas, a former tank commander and real estate agent, started listening to podcasts during his long commutes. Realizing the lack of consistent, inspiring content, he decided to start his own daily podcast, Entrepreneurs On Fire. Despite having no online presence or broadcasting experience, he took the leap, hired a mentor, and launched the podcast. It quickly gained traction and led to the creation of other successful products and services, generating over $100,000 in net revenue every month.
How much money it makes: $1.8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 5
John Lee Dumas launched Entrepreneurs On Fire, a daily podcast interviewing successful entrepreneurs, and went on to create multiple successful products and services including Podcasters' Paradise, which has consistently generated over $100,000 in net revenue every month for 89 months in a row.
7. Paper Raven Books ($1.2M/year)
Founder of Paper Raven Books, a publishing company, started out as a freelance editor and writing coach. After working with clients and receiving requests for publishing services, she documented the process of self-publishing her own book and began offering it as a service to clients, eventually growing the company to gross $1.1 million in revenue with over 150 clients and an 18-member remote team.
How much money it makes: $1.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 18
This case study follows the journey of a service-based business, Paper Raven Books, from bootstrapping with minimal expenses to scaling with a team of 18 members, $20,000 per month in advertising spend, and revenues of $1.1 million per year by package pricing, paid advertising to webinars, and offering smaller introductory packages with practical insights and guidance.
8. Publishing Services ($864K/year)
While self-publishing her own books, Laura Mikkelsen realized many independent authors struggled with marketing. This led her to create Publishing Services, initially offering just book descriptions in 2019; now, it nets $72,000 monthly.
How much money it makes: $864K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 41
Publishing Services, a company founded by Laura Mikkelsen, began as a service to create best-selling Amazon book descriptions, and has now grown into a full range of services for publishers with an average monthly revenue of $72,000 and 41 people on the team.
9. AI Publisher Pro ($360K/year)
When Joe graduated from high school, he began working on a use case for GPT3, focusing on how AI integration into business models could be improved.
In 2022, he decided to use his pre-existing skills to build his own business.
In July of that year, he met with a publishing company that inspired him. He came up with an innovative idea of creating books using AI.
Joe realized that using AI for product creation gave him a competitive edge. It allowed him to respond to market trends more quickly than anyone else.
How much money it makes: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 0
A 20-year-old computer science student built AI Publisher Pro in one year and now has a business valued at over $1 million, making an average of $30K/month and $360K/year, using AI to quickly respond to market trends and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.
10. Warrior Lodge Media ($252K/year)
Wes O'Donnell came up with the idea for Warrior Lodge Media out of frustration with the lack of simple military information online. He wanted to create a website that compiled every piece of unclassified U.S. military information in existence, and with the help of his network of military and veteran writers, he built Warrior Lodge slowly and organically. Today, the site earns between $18,000-$22,000 per month through ads, t-shirt sales, and affiliate links, and is almost completely hands-off, generating passive income for O'Donnell.
How much money it makes: $252K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
How many people on the team: 2
This case study is about the founder of Warrior Lodge Media, Wes O'Donnell, who started an all-in-one informational website for military and veterans and turned it into a $21k/month media company and eCommerce store, almost completely hands-off and generating true passive income.
11. Merrative ($24K/year)
Harshala Chavan, the founder of Merrative, came up with the idea for her business after noticing a lack of dedicated spaces for people to discuss literature. After attending a book club meetup, where she had a great discussion with others who had read the same book, she wondered if she could bring this experience online at scale. She validated her concept through participating in BPlans and growing her Instagram page, which eventually led to the launch of Merrative as a community-led marketplace for publishing talent.
How much money it makes: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
How many people on the team: 0
Merrative, a community-driven marketplace for publishing talent, generates an average of $1,500 per month in marketplace transactions from their 5,000+ strong community of readers, writers, journalists, and scholars.
12. Prooftheword ($14.4K/year)
In this case study article, Sara Davies, founder of Prooftheword, shares how her excellent editing skills and frustration with the poor English she encountered everywhere inspired her to start her editing and proofreading business. With regular monthly earnings of around £1,200 and a client base that includes magazines and book writers, Sara's business has steadily grown over the years.
How much money it makes: $14.4K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 1
A sole trader launched Prooftheword, an editing and proofreading site, offering services to a wide range of clients, with consistent monthly earnings of around £1,200 through her skills and great work.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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