Authors' Incomes

[Paul Whybrow]

Even bestselling and award-winning authors have to go through the submission process these days. This article shows how Rupert Thompson, a fantastic novelist, is struggling :

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/02/bestseller-novel-to-bust-author-life

According to a survey of authors in 2013, the median income of 2,500 self-employed professional writers was £11,000, but averaging it out for all writers gave a figure of £4,000. It's reckoned that an income of £16,850 is needed to achieve a minimum standard of living...I've made about £45 in two years for all of my thousands of hours of work!

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/08/authors-incomes-collapse-alcs-survey

23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison got it right way back in the 19th century:

 

[Jennifer Stone]

A very apt quote, thanks for sharing.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Income? There is income? Oh lordy let me at it!!!

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Hey, I have a whole $2.35 over two years that says there's definitely income in this business.

 

[Bernard Stacey]

Hey, I have a whole $2.35 over two years that says there's definitely income in this business.

Show off.

 

[Emurelda]

Author income; best-selling fiction around.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I made an average of $15,000 a year in royalties for the past two years. Hence the reason I still work full time at another job. Of the authors writing in the same genre, and whose incomes I'm aware of, I know authors who make less, and I know authors who make well over $100,000 a year, but they are the exceptions among us.

I'm curious - do you know many/any that are able to support themselves with just their author income? $100k would be - at least for me - a little excessive of that, but I wonder how many are making $50-$60k?
EDIT: I realize after posting this, that $100k is only excessive if you live in cheap areas (like Houston), but probably a necessity for living in San Francisco or Manhattan.

 

[David Steele]

And yet the Guardian (UK) still offers courses on "How to Finish a Work of Fiction" or "How to Sell a Story" for between £4,000 and £7,000 each. They aren't selling knowledge. all they're doing is exploiting the middle class mediocrity and selling the dream.
I would get angry about it. But I think the middle class mediocrity deserves everything it gets.

 

[Diamond]

Income? There is income? Oh lordy let me at it!!!

I only meant to LIKE one post, but the comments kept getting funnier and I couldn't stop.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Actually, I might have made $20 in the last 3 years, *puffs out chest* hehehehe

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Actually, I might have made $20 in the last 3 years, *puffs out chest* hehehehe

Listen, there's no need to flaunt your fortune in our faces.

 

[Emurelda]

And yet the Guardian (UK) still offers courses on "How to Finish a Work of Fiction" or "How to Sell a Story" for between £4,000 and £7,000 each. They aren't selling knowledge. all they're doing is exploiting the middle class mediocrity and selling the dream.
I would get angry about it. But I think the middle class mediocrity deserves everything it gets.

£7000!

I could make a card game with that.

Reading the course notes..it's not really more than what this forum does. Critique, self-edit, advice from experienced authors etc.. Thats a lot of money when virtually you are paying for someone else to discipline your writing time.

 

[James Marinero]

And how do you cost your time? It's a big negative figure once that comes into the equation.

 

[Jason Byrne]

And how do you cost your time? It's a big negative figure once that comes into the equation.

There you are James it's been months! How the hell are you?

 

[Damian North]

I wrote a piece on my blog yesterday www.damiannorth.com/blog titled Making Time Work - might be relevant to this debate that you are having. Read recently that only 5% of authors can support themselves full-time in a writing career while most hold down a parallel job.