Authors' incomes

[TxRad]

At 5K an hour, authors should be taking voice lessons.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

At 5K an hour, authors should be taking voice lessons.

Very true.

 

[yukonnights]

I guess I'm just lucky; I don't need the money and all of my stories have been written as a pass-time. To have to deal with having them published or turned into audio books wouldn't be worth the effort.

But kudos to those who enjoy getting their works out there and seeing some profit for the effort!

 

[samhasstories]

Making money as a writer would be fantastic. Making a living as a writer would be even better. But I don't write for money, and I have no illusions about ever making a significant amount. A little would be okay. None is also fine; it's still worth it.

 

[XerXesXu]

I neither read nor wrote books 'til I retired. My first were those below.

I looked at Lit to see how to write about sex and, maybe, drew the wrong conclusions. After dipping my feet, I've written non-erotic stuff - romance, action, mystery - for the fun of writing. My conclusion is that you make an order of one or more magnitudes less money writing explicit-sex material than other stuff. The good news is, if I'd decided to write fiction at 21 and could have self-published, I'd have been able to live off my earnings by 40.

For young people who aspire to write for a living, self-publishing is a game changer.

 

[KeithD]

I waited until I had a good annuity plus other good income before putting my writing into the marketplace. I wanted the writing to be unencumbered from the thought I needed the money it would bring in. Since then, with more than 200 titles in the marketplace, what I make from it has been covering two cruises a year--my expenses but not my wife's. I could afford to go on the cruises without that money, though.

I made significantly more in editing other people's works for mainstream publishers for seventeen years in a second career.

 

[Codoc24]

My luck selling is like being between a rock and a hard place. I can sell books if I advertise but the ads costs more than my royalties. I am planning to try it for a little while and get a few more books released and see where I stand then. Luckily I am retired and don't need the royalties to pay my bills. I'm doing it mostly just to see if I can. Like climbing the mountain just because it's there. I'm kinda screwing myself a little bit because I don't have and don't want a big social media presence. So the odds are against me but I'm having fun while doing it

 

[Ada Stuart]

Maybe you should check the ALLI survey instead: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/income-survey-2023-media-links/

Key Income Findings​

• In 2022, the median income of “primary income” self-publishing authors (those who spend more than half their working time on writing and publishing activities) was $12,749.
• The average income was over $80,000.
• Almost a quarter had not yet started to earn, bringing in between 0 and 1K.
• Almost half of the respondents (43.8%) reported over $20k revenue.
• Some 28% earned $50k+ and almost a fifth ran six-figure publishing businesses.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Maybe you should check the ALLI survey instead: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/income-survey-2023-media-links/

Key Income Findings​

• In 2022, the median income of “primary income” self-publishing authors (those who spend more than half their working time on writing and publishing activities) was $12,749.
• The average income was over $80,000.
• Almost a quarter had not yet started to earn, bringing in between 0 and 1K.
• Almost half of the respondents (43.8%) reported over $20k revenue.
• Some 28% earned $50k+ and almost a fifth ran six-figure publishing businesses.

Really isn't much better. Spend half your working hours on it and the median income is still 12k? That is minimum wage.