I point out romance because that's what I write, but it's just one example. At a quick glance through the first few product pages there, most of those books appear self-published.
To get to #1 in these general categories on Amazon (Romance, Contemporary romance, Paranormal romance, etc), you need _a crapton_ of sales or page reads (if you are in Kindle Unlimited). These authors all stand out because they are making bank right now, as indicated by their presence on this list.
(Of course this does not reflect expenses like ad spend, but that's a whole other story that is near impossible to measure without info from the author themselves.)
I point out romance because that's what I write, but it's just one example. At a quick glance through the first few product pages there, most of those books appear self-published.
To get to #1 in these general categories on Amazon (Romance, Contemporary romance, Paranormal romance, etc), you need _a crapton_ of sales or page reads (if you are in Kindle Unlimited). These authors all stand out because they are making bank right now, as indicated by their presence on this list.
(Of course this does not reflect expenses like ad spend, but that's a whole other story that is near impossible to measure without info from the author themselves.)