The publishing industry has been disrupted by digital books and the ability of new tools to allow indie authors to reach a vast global readership. Amazon has its own tool that allows anyone to publish their book, eliminating intermediaries from the equation.
It is the publishing industry itself that still doesn't see self-publishing as a viable option, one that doesn't even come close to the more respectable approach of "real" authors. But perhaps the reality is different, and not what the industry itself wants us to believe. A compilation of all kinds of data from various sources has concluded that indie authors are increasingly chipping away at the market share currently held by those established authors.
Of course, much of the data collected, which shows how indie authors are gaining more traction , talks about ebooks compared to printed book sales, but as indicated, the income from printed books for authors is nothing compared to what is obtained from digital.
It's important to know that those indie authors who are able to earn six-figure incomes were once authors who published with independent labels. Now, those same authors can call themselves self-published authors with the same approach and who maintain their creative control from the beginning to the end of the work—something others certainly couldn't claim.
But the best part is that those authors who were told they would never be able to publish their stories or perspectives on life now have their own tools to make themselves known, and their writing can be downloaded by anyone with an e-reader. News like this is always welcome.