Most Writers Nowadays Write For The Love Of The Craft, Not Money.

Most writers nowadays write for the love of the craft, not money. Despite what movies and books say about raking in truck loads of money. It’s simply not true.

Long gone are the days of writing being a way to become a millionaire or even able to quit one’s day job and write full time.

From a major publishers, such advance is typically $5,000-$10,000 for a first-time, unknown author, more if the author is well-known.

Small Press the advances are lower, usually in the $1,000-$2,000 range, although some Small Press make up for that with higher royalty terms.

According to the survey, “Just over 77% of self-published writers make $1,000 a year…with a startling 53.9% of traditionally-published authors, and 43.6% of hybrid authors, reporting their earnings are below the same threshold.

Out of these low figures must come out of the writers’ pockets the cost of marketing and other expenses.

Royalties on an average contract might be anywhere from 4 to 25 percent depending on the book format and volume of sales. Royalties on a no-advance or digital-only/digital-first contract should look better than that, usually 20-50% of sales for print.

With the stiff competition today, it’s very hard to make an income. Long gone are the days all an author had to do was write and all the marketing is left up to the publisher. Long gone are the days of deals like the one Alexandre Dumas got for Les Misérables. It’s still stands as the best contract an author ever received.

Alexandre Dumas was a Black French writer who was one of the more prolific writers in the 19th-century theater world. A million dollars to sign on. And remember, this was in the 19th century.

The Count of Monte Cristo
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Three Musketeers
La Reine Margot
The Black Tulip and many more.

Alexander Dumas