If your dream is to become a published author, you might be wondering how much do authors make in 2021. You might even be wondering if being an author is even a sustainable career path.
I understand you.
There have been some unsavory labels given to authors, or writers in general. One of them is “starving artist.” This may have been true in the past when traditional publishing houses turned away almost every writer. But this is not the reality anymore.
There are so many people all over the world making a living writing and publishing books. They aren’t living hand-to-mouth; they’re actually making a healthy, full-time income doing something they truly love.
Self-publishing has become more relevant as time passes, and people who want to be full-time authors can now make money writing books without having an agent. There are self-published authors who make between $5,000-$10,000 per month, while some massively successful ones make upwards of $20,000 per month.
Now, you might want to be old-school and go the traditional route like some of your favorite authors. That’s great too! Authors like Lee Child, George R.R. Martin and J.K. Rowling are traditionally published and wildly successful.
In this article, however, we are going to realistically break down how much you can earn through traditional publishing and self-publishing.
Ready?
Let’s dive in.
How much do authors make a year?
While it’s possible to make money from just one book, authors stand a better chance of making full-time income if they have multiple books. These chances grow even higher if they have an active fan base and a strong marketing strategy.
There are many factors that affect how much authors make in a year, including number of books sold, book printing costs and royalty rate. It’s different for every author, though it would be wonderful if everyone could get as much income as Stephen King and J.K. Rowling.
Depending on which publishing route you take, your earnings will differ.
Let’s look at the traditional publishing route first.
Income for traditionally published authors
The income of a traditionally published author depends on a few things.
- Upfront advance payment
- Royalty rate earned per book sale
- Genre of the book
- How many books are published per year
- How many books are currently published
- Size of online audience
- Scope of marketing strategy
Here’s how traditional publishing works.
A writer finishes their manuscript and writes query letters to agents requesting that they represent the writer and pitch the book to publishing houses. They get an agent who pitches the book to several publishing houses. A publishing house accepts to publish the book for the author.
The publishing house draws up an agreement between the author and the publisher, agreeing to a set advance fee, royalty rate and number of books to be published, amongst other things.
Advance payment
The advance fee is a prediction of how well the publisher thinks the book will sell in the first 12 months after publication. A huge advance indicated that the publisher will market the book extensively so that they can get back their investment.
For new authors, traditional publishers usually pay an advance between $5,000 and $10,000. So to break even on a book that costs $10 per copy, they need to sell 1,000 copies. It is only AFTER the publisher has recouped the advance fee that the author begins to earn royalties.
If the book does not make as much money as the advance fee, the author could end up owing the publishing house.
Books written by famous people (politicians, actors, socialites, etc.) or established writers usually fetch a higher advance fee because they have a larger audience who are curious about what the writer has to say.
For instance, Hillary Clinton was paid $14 million by Simon & Schuster as the advance fee for her 2014 book Hard Choices, in which she told of her time as the Secretary of State in the period that saw the ousting and death of Libyan leade Mohammar Gaddafi and the assassination of terrorist, Osama bin Laden.
In 2017, Barack Obama topped that figure when he was paid $20 million for his book, Dreams from my Father.
Royalty rate
The royalty rate given to traditionally published authors is usually 10%. This is because the editing, graphic design (for the covers and images), printing and distribution of the book is done by the publishing house. A large chunk of each sale goes to the editors, graphic designers and marketers that work in the publishing house.
If the book sells well, the royalty rate may rise to 15%, but this is rare.
Income of a self-published author
For some reason, most people believe that traditionally published authors earn more than self-published authors. But that’s not really true.
Unlike self-published authors, traditionally published authors don’t have to bother with the time and costs to craft a book marketing strategy. But self-published authors get much higher royalties per book sale.
Self-published authors can make between 40% – 80% royalties per book sale. They can also publish 2-3 great books in a year, while it can take 2-3 years for traditionally published authors to publish one book.
However, because a self-published author does not have the backing of a traditional publisher, they are generally unable to price their book as high as a traditionally published author would. So while a trad author can sell their book anywhere from $10 – $30, a self-published author may price their book in the range of $5 – $20.
Generally, self-published authors don’t sell as much as traditionally published authors, especially if they are new. This is because they don’t have a reputation and a publisher to distribute the book into bookstores and libraries.
That’s why most self-published authors keep their books in eBook format, because they have better chances of selling more eBooks than print books.
Traditionally published author vs. self-published author: a hypothetical example
Let’s use a hypothetical example to show how all of this really works.
We have two authors, Daniel and Alicia, who sold 6,000 and 4,500 copies of their books respectively in 12 months. Daniel’s a traditional published author, while Alicia is a self-published author.
Daniel’s earnings (traditional)
Book retail price: $14.99
Initial royalty rate: $10%
Income per book: $1.50
Books sold: 6,000
Earnings: $9,000
Alicia’s earnings (self-published)
Book retail price: $10.99
Initial retail price: 60%
Income per book: $6.60
Books sold: 4,500
Earnings: $29,700
As you can see, there’s a ~$20,000 difference between Daniel’s and Alicia’s earnings, despite the fact that Daniel sold 1,500 copies more than Alicia did.
So while some traditionally published authors make crazy money, the earning potential is actually higher with self-publishing than with traditional publishing.
How much money do bestselling authors make?
You have heard authors being introduced as a New York Times Bestselling Author, right? Well, let’s discuss what exactly “bestselling” means and how much these authors earn.
Authors whose books feature on a bestseller list, like New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal or Washington Post, are people who sold at least 40,000 copies in a year. They are always traditionally published authors. To earn a top spot on the bestseller list, authors have to sell at least 5,000 copies each week after its release.
If an author is able to sell as many copies of a book priced between $10 – $30, they will be able to break even on their advance fee quickly and start earning royalties. As I mentioned above, the royalty rate can rise to 15% if a book sells well.
This means that a bestselling author who sells 40,000 copies of their book per year will make between $60,000 – $180,000 per year.
But this is strictly from book sales.
Most bestselling authors who have ranked among the highest-paid authors on earth have made a large chunk of their money from other sources. According to Forbes.com, authors like James Patterson, Rick Riordan, George R.R. Martin and Tom Clancy earn millions of dollars because many of their books have been adapted into films. Warner Bros paid J.K. Rowling $500,000 for each of the first four Harry Potter movies.
Bestselling authors also give speeches because of the success of their books. If a bestselling author gives 15 speeches a year priced in the range of $5,000 – $10,000 per speech, that’s an additional income of $75,000 to $150,000 per year.
So the earnings of a bestselling author depends mainly on:
- Advance payment
- Royalty rate
- Adaptation of work into a screenplay
- Speeches
Wrapping it up
So there you have it! A complete breakdown of how much authors typically make in a year, and the earning potential of the two major publishing routes.
Do you want to be an author? If you do, which route do you want to take–traditional publishing or self-publishing?
Tell me below in the comments.
