The side hustle turning women into millionaires
· The South African
South African women are hard-working and always willing to go the extra mile for their families.
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On Women’s Day, and really every day, this is something to celebrate. But women rarely receive financial recognition for their labour.
There’s one side hustle where that is different.
Women dominate this side hustle and make more money than their male counterparts.
Self-Publishing is the Side Hustle for Women
Many people talk about writing a book. Self-publishing has made this easier to do than before.
Print-on-demand books and ebooks have allowed anyone with an internet connection the option to become a writer.
Written World Media reveals Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) paid out $699 million (R11.4 billion) to its authors in 2025. As of June 2026, KDP has paid out $384 million (R6.3 billion), a 13% increase from the previous year.
The platform allows authors without an agent to publish directly to millions of readers worldwide. Then, if readers choose to read the book on their Kindle or buy a print-on-demand copy, the author gets a percentage of that sale.
It’s here where women dominate.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, although women only make up 43.6% of authors published on Kindle ebooks, they receive 58.5% of the revenue as of 2021.
From Self-Published Author to Millionaire
Many women make extra money through self-publishing, but a handful of authors have turned it into a lucrative business.
Authors like Tricia O’Malley, whose book The Stolen Dog made it onto the New York Times bestseller list, first self-published on KDP.
There’s also Amanda Hocking, who became a millionaire in 2011 selling $0.99 (R15.84) ebooks on KDP.
Colleen Hoover, who would become world-renowned, started as a self-published author in 2012.
More recently, thousands of authors have used social media to make money. On TikTok, for example, the BookTok tag has reached hundreds of billions of views.
Authors like Carissa Broadbent sold thousands of copies of her debut self-published novel thanks to TikTok.
The Genres Doing Well for Women
According to selfpublishing.com, Romance is the best performing genre for female authors. The genre, which accounts for 40% of the self-published on Amazon’s KDP, grossed more than $1 billion (R16 billion) in sales in 2025.
Female authors dominate this genre.
Romance is followed by the mystery, thriller, and suspense genre, and then young adult.
Becoming a self-published author is straightforward
There’s hardly any barrier to entry when self-publishing. South African women can get started with a laptop and a free Canva account.
Writing is the most demanding part.
The average ebook is roughly 30 000 words. This is months of unpaid work, where a writer will create the plot, write, edit, and proofread.
Then there’s the cover. A good cover captures a reader’s attention online or on social media.
Finally, it’s time to publish.
Free-to-use platforms like KDP provide guides on how to publish and format the document.
But publishing doesn’t lead to success.
Like any side hustle, there will be winners and losers.
It just so happens that with self-publishing, women win more than they lose.