Can you make a living out of writing?

[ElectricBlue]

If not, what to do next? Here are some ideas:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-17/how-great-writers-made-a-living-scrounging-for-money/8533996

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't have to time to read just yet, but if 'living off your spouse' isn't one of them, it should be number one.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Um... writers want to write more than readers want to read it. I mean can you believe some people are actually willing to write for FREE? So readers are hardly going to be willing to shell out large sums for books.

It's hard to make a living selling snow to Eskimos.

But this doesn't really bother me. Most of what's worth saying about human experience has already been said; if there was somehow a magic moratorium on new fiction books for ten years, few people would notice and I'm not convinced the world would be worse off. We're long past the point where even the most avid of readers can, in a lifetime, read everything worth reading, or even read everything that's astonishingly good, that's available for free.

This isn't to say people here aren't managing to make a living. But I don't think most of us should quit our day jobs.

 

[oggbashan]

The UK figures for public lending right earnings are published - that is payment to the author for books borrowed from libraries. Another source added a couple of years ago that for many authors this was their major source of income from their writing.

https://www.plr.uk.com/mediaCentre/newsletters/2017Newsletter.pdf

Two thirds earned less than £100. Many of authors registered for the scheme earned nothing.

And they have to pay taxes on those amounts!

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[NOIRTRASH]

The odds are better for signing with NFL or MLB.

 

[sr71plt]

There's writing and then there's other writing. From time to time my job was writing/reviewing government analysis. That was both a good living and very, very good benefits extending into retirement.

Writing fiction? I haven't found that self-sustaining (and don't need it to be). It pays for some nifty vacations, though.

 

[ChloeTzang]

70% of books sold in North America are women's romance and about 80% of them are so badly written that if they were posted on LIT they'd be ripped to pieces. So my game plan is hone my writing on LIT and when I'm not getting shredded any more, self publish and suck and see. Targeting getting my first couple of hot romance novels out this summer. Gotta start somewhere.

Can I make a living from writing? No idea but we'll see. Tell you in a couple of years time.

 

[TxRad]

You can add to your income writing. How much is up to you and fate.

 

[Nezhul]

It's a gamble. You may write many things that fade into the endless void of literature oblivion and harly anyne will reald it...

And then again you can write a best-seller that millions will buy and read. Fifty shades, despite all the criticism, made the author rich - and it started with Twilight fanfiction written for fun.

In mainstream there are webnovels that earn 2-3k dollars a month through patreon,

Until you write it - you never know. I wouldn't quit my job and bet everything on it, but it doesn't hurt to write stuff.

 

[TxRad]

70% of books sold in North America are women's romance and about 80% of them are so badly written that if they were posted on LIT they'd be ripped to pieces. So my game plan is hone my writing on LIT and when I'm not getting shredded any more, self publish and suck and see. Targeting getting my first couple of hot romance novels out this summer. Gotta start somewhere.

Can I make a living from writing? No idea but we'll see. Tell you in a couple of years time.

Check into young adult books. You may find some interesting numbers there also.

 

[sr71plt]

70% of books sold in North America are women's romance and about 80% of them are so badly written that if they were posted on LIT they'd be ripped to pieces. So my game plan is hone my writing on LIT and when I'm not getting shredded any more, self publish and suck and see. Targeting getting my first couple of hot romance novels out this summer. Gotta start somewhere.

Can I make a living from writing? No idea but we'll see. Tell you in a couple of years time.

I thought most of the books sold in North America were nonfiction. I'll have to look back to when that changed.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I just bought a ton of new books, most of them biographies of great commanders such as Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Spartacus, Emperor Octavian (Augustus), and Alexander. Spartacus, the gladiator slave was more like Maimus of the GLADIATOR movie. I wanna do something gladiator.

 

[sr71plt]

There you go. I can't see the connection to the thread but maybe JBJ is saying that because he just bought a ton of biographies that's what most books sold in North America are or that that's what folks should write to make money. Or maybe he's just posting irrelevant stuff to hear his head rattle or to seek attention.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[ChloeTzang]

I thought most of the books sold in North America were nonfiction. I'll have to look back to when that changed.

I'm going to go back and double check tonight. I can't remember where I picked that up from.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm going to go back and double check tonight. I can't remember where I picked that up from.

Maybe your source was talking about fiction rather than about all books(?) Or maybe the stats have dramatically changed since I last looked at this.

 

[lovecraft68]

70% of books sold in North America are women's romance and about 80% of them are so badly written that if they were posted on LIT they'd be ripped to pieces. So my game plan is hone my writing on LIT and when I'm not getting shredded any more, self publish and suck and see. Targeting getting my first couple of hot romance novels out this summer. Gotta start somewhere.

Can I make a living from writing? No idea but we'll see. Tell you in a couple of years time.

I wouldn't let getting shredded on lit deter you. Keep in mind most people doing the shredding can't even type a literate comment, let alone write a story.

Hate to sound like JBJ here, but the opinions of 99% of the readers here mean jack shit. That goes for the good as well, because "you're the best" is as worthless as 'you're the worst'

 

[GoldenCojones]

I wouldn't let getting shredded on lit deter you. Keep in mind most people doing the shredding can't even type a literate comment, let alone write a story.

Hate to sound like JBJ here, but the opinions of 99% of the readers here mean jack shit. That goes for the good as well, because "you're the best" is as worthless as 'you're the worst'

Except that "You're the best" makes you feel good Of course the lame attempts at shredding are so comical that they make me feel good too

I especially love those who cut and paste the same comment on every single story! It is hilarious. I guess they spent two minutes writing what they perceived as a witty cutting remark and want to get their money's worth out of it.

 

[lovecraft68]

Except that "You're the best" makes you feel good Of course the lame attempts at shredding are so comical that they make me feel good too

I especially love those who cut and paste the same comment on every single story! It is hilarious. I guess they spent two minutes writing what they perceived as a witty cutting remark and want to get their money's worth out of it.

Don't forget that they do this in ALL CAPS SO YOU REALLY KNOW HOW BAD THEY THINK YOU ARE AND HOW IMPORTANT THEIR OPINION IS.

 

[litfan10]

There are so many variants to writing that hard work can pay off.

I started writing right out of college and that was back before computers were around. I paid off my college loans and lived through writing. I loved fiction but made the lion share through nonfiction, mostly journalism and magazine article writing. The big issue was to keep a steady flow of cash moving through the door as snail mail was the only means of sending material either to or from the publisher if you didn't live near the publisher as well as getting paid. "The check is in the mail" was no joke. I almost cried the first time I emailed a publisher and received my first direct deposit.

It is much, much easier to get published now (through self publishing avenues) which is a good thing and a bad thing. You can do it but so can countless others. It's hard enough to get someone to spot your wares on a bookshelf in a real bookstore but in the virtual field? Good luck!

Those who have the talent and the elbow grease to promote can do it.

Good writers can also supplement via copywriting and freelance work and there are still traditional magazine and contest markets that are always looking.

Best plan: don't give up your day job until the steady flow comes in that can take care of bills every month.

Or as Lovecraft said - have a wealthy spouse! Or be poly-amorous and have several to be safe!

Happy writing.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Maybe your source was talking about fiction rather than about all books(?) Or maybe the stats have dramatically changed since I last looked at this.

Stats that make sense are really hard to find. That may well have been a % of fiction sales. Anyhow, this article on "May 2016 Author Earnings Report: the definitive million-title study of US author earnings" is interesting. Really wordy, but interesting.

http://authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/genre-units.png

And here's an interesting one on romance writing and it has some really fascinating statistics on things like optimal length (300-400 pages), should the first book in a series be free (no), breakdown by sub genres,

http://authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Slide10-768x576.png

http://authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Slide15-768x576.png

http://authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Slide07-768x576.png

 

[ChloeTzang]

http://authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Slide55.jpg

 

[ChloeTzang]

And this one's fascinating - have no idea if its in line with US trends by Tex, its kind of supports what you said. I must've been reading something about fiction sales when I saw that romance %, and I suspect it was on ebook sales, which is where romance seems to really shine.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-H4Y31WsAEAJuL.jpg

 

[ChloeTzang]

But then here's e-book sales on Amazon. I give up. This is too confusing....

http://authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/50000-unit-sales-by-category1.jpg