One wonders how a literary author of a small language could possibly survive, but they do. The following European nations at the very least have, good, thriving publishing industries in their native languages:
Tier 1:
Albania (Albanian)
Czech Republic (Czech)
Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
Ukraine (Ukrainian)
Norway (Norwegian)
Sweden (Swedish)
Finland (Finnish)
Iceland (Icelandic)
Hungary (Hungarian)
Macedonia (Macedonian)
Romania (Romanian)
Iran (Persian)
The Netherlands (Dutch)
Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro (Serbo-Croatian)
Georgia (Georgian)
Turkey (Turkish)
Tier 1 are relatively small languages, but authors writing in those languages, especially novelists, can probably sell a lot of books simply because the market is rather small. All of those countries have thriving publishing industries.
Further, many of these languages are translated into German. More books are probably translated into German than any other continental language. Germany is basically a clearinghouse for translations from smaller European countries. If your work in say Czech gets translated into German, it will get much wider readership because many Europeans even outside of Germany speak German. German is one of the main lingua francas of Continental Europe.
Books in Chinese, Czech, Bulgarian, Dutch, Finnish, French, Georgian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian are often translated first into German and then into other languages. Germany is often the first stop for a foreign translation from a big author from Continental Europe, and a German translation often comes before an English one.
The other big language that Continental European books get translated into is French. French of course is a huge language in Continental Europe and is spoken even by many people outside of France. If you publish in your small language first, you often wish to take it to France to get your first or second translation done. France, like Germany, specializes in translations of good authors of small Continental languages.
Books in Albanian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Macedonian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian often receive a French translation, though a German translation is more common.
Works in Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian and Turkish are sometimes translated into Spanish. Works in Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Turkish and Ukrainian are sometimes translated into Italian.
Works in Macedonian are typically translated first into French.
Most Albanian works also go into French first.
Other languages have thriving industries of all sorts of published materials:
Tier 2:
China (Chinese)
Japan (Japanese)
Portugal and Brazil (Portuguese)
Spain and Latin America (Spanish)
Russia (Russian)
Italy (Italian)
Tier 2 are huge languages in their own right with vast publishing industries in their native languages. In addition, works in these languages are often translated into German and French.