SelfpublishedWriter

Just to give this answer from another perspective, I started self-publishing a year and a half ago. I don't write literary, just normal romance stuff. I've made more money in that time frame than the past 5 years before that.

I'm not sure how to phrase this without seeming rude to Ms. Pissinger, but the vast majority of erotica writers no longer make a living from their works (After Amazon's Kindle Unlimited changes).

Many others who write thrillers/mystery/suspsense/romance/sci-fi do make their living self-publishing however, and a very comfortable one at that.

(I'm saying this to give those reading more info, not to detract from Ms. Pissinger)

I tell people that I own an online publishing company (This is the truth, even if it's not a sprawling company with multiple offices and dozens of employees).

It's easy, not a lie, and sounds impressive.

My answer to that varies on how well I know the person.

Closer friend? I tell them I write romance under a cheesy pen name that I prefer to keep private. They generally don't give me grief.

Random person/acquaintance? I say e-books, several genres, print on demand, etc. I rarely get pushed for more info past that.

Not OP, but another self-pubbed person.

At the beginning of any author's career, I would recommend Amazon, and (if you're writing anything novella or novel length+) get into the Kindle Unlimited program. It's by far and away the easiest way to get exposure to yourself, and to gain traction as a new author.

If you find yourself doing well, then you can start to expand to different sites and drop out of KU, if you so choose. That will be different for all authors. Other sites are Google, ibooks, D2D, Smashwords, etc. I don't use any of them personally, but those are the ones I see come up most often.

Amazon has something like 83% of the ebook marketshare. So, take that into consideration.

Amazon is very good about maintaining privacy of your real name. Better than Paypal, which is where most transactions occur (editing/covers/advertising, etc). <_<

You can publish under as many pseudonyms as you want. One per book if you wish, though that would be silly, because then you'll never build a following.

Chuck Tingle is a god amongst mortals. Nobody can compare.