1000 True Fans
Ideas espoused in this essay by Kevin Kelly
You don't need millions, you need roughly a 1000 true fans, "superfans", who will want everything you create.
That's enough people to sustain you.
There will also be "regular fans", but keep making stuff for the superfans. They're your own marketing force, and you'll be aiming more specifically. More superfans creates more regular fans.
The internet and enables you to cultivate direct relationships with your superfans. They pay you, you don't lose a cut to the middleman.