Money, Honey!

Hello writers!

Every year I write about what I make money-wise as a full-time author. I do this for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that there’s always been a veil of secrecy around how much writers make. You can find stats, but they’re anonymous. Many times, I say that I’m a full-time author with two dozen books out, and people think I’m rolling in the dough. And honestly, I AM, truly. I can afford to pull my weight with our San Francisco Bay Area bills. My wife provides our insurance. I’m SO lucky! We have enough to live on, and then some. (Focus this year: SAVINGS! See previous blog post.)

But if you’re imagining unlimited wealth without reason, well, no.

[My darling – if you haven’t finished your book yet, try hard not to take any of this to heart. WRITE THE DAMN BOOK because you love it, not because you’ll make money with it. Only after it’s good and revised should you start hoping and working for moolah. That said, read on!]

I’m a lucky outlier. The stats are bleak. Writing has been devalued by the glut of product on the market as self-publishing opens the doors for all to write (and I mean ALL to write). I honestly think this is a great thing. Want to have your voice heard? Write it. Put it out. May it fly from the virtual shelves, dear writer.

That said, I didn’t drop out of Economics in college twice without learning at least one thing: as supply goes up, price goes down. That’s how it works.

Supply is up, way up. There are many discerning readers who are looking for OUR beautifully crafted novels, but there are also many more not-so-picky readers who will read and enjoy things that aren’t, say, as lyrical as yours or mine, and they’re happy reading what they’re reading. God bless. That’s also the way the market works.

What to do? Friends, ignore the market. Write what your heart wants to write, what spins you out at night while you’re lying in bed trying to sleep. Write what freaks you out and makes you shiver with bliss. Make it breathe with your passion. When you’re done writing the book, done revising it at least once, then consider the market. You can then shape any book into a genre from which you can try to gain interest, either from an agent or from readers directly. Write with passion first, then edit with an eye to marketing.

Remember: PEOPLE STILL BUY BOOKS. Even a tiny niche of an audience in a sub-genre of a sub-genre is enough to supply you with the income you need if you work your ass off. I do believe you need to work your ass off, though.

For a depressing read, you can read the results of the Authors Guild Income Survey for 2018 that came out three days ago (all quotes below are taken from it). It takes into account self-published writers as well as traditional and hybrid (it was a huge group push by a ton of professional groups, including the Author’s Guild, RWA, MWA, ITW, PEN American Center and many more. If you’re part of a pro group, you probably took the survey–I know I did).

Rather Bleak News

Overview, midlisters (like me) and literary writers are feeling it the worst, and are “on the edge of extinction.” CHEERY!

Amazon and traditional publishers’ focus on blockbusters is a combo that is punching us all in the face (and I will keep popping up, personally, hoping to be struck at some point with the magic blockbuster wand. Fingers crossed! I can take a lot of hits, don’t you worry. I’m a jack-in-the-box with good lipstick).

Royalties are down across the board.

The median income for all authors surveyed was down to $6,080. Median income based on just book-related activities was down to $3,100.

For full-time authors: “Median income for full-time authors for all writing-related activities, however, was $20,300 in 2017, up 3% from 2013. Note, however, that is still considerably lower than the $25,000 median income full-time authors earned in 2009.”

Self-published authors as a whole still earned 58% less than trad-published authors (and romance writers still do better than anyone else). “Note that the median 2017 author-related income of $10,050 for self-published romance and romantic suspense writers is almost five times higher than the $1,900 median author-related income for the next highest-earning self-published genre category of mysteries and thrillers.”

Holy shit, I AM LUCKY. Here are my numbers, in handy-dandy graph form.

My best year ever! I’m up 17% from last year, which was, in fact, my target goal, as I’d made 17% more in 2017 than in 2016. Next year’s goal? Approximately 17% more = $100,000! Will I hit it? I have no idea. Publishing money is crazy, yo. I can work my ass off and try to predict things and still get it wrong. We’ll see.

EVEN MORE

If you want more details about what I made this year, here’s my annual money podcast, with a year’s roundup (or grab the episode on audio wherever you listen to podcasts).

My main takeaway from the survey and from 2018?

MY GOD IT’S NOT EASY to be a full-time writer. Or any kind of writer, really. And that’s before money even comes into it.

That said, writers are a special breed. We’re more stubborn than anyone else in the world. We DO NOT QUIT. (Okay, some writers quit, but those are writers and you have a capital-W in front the kind of Writer YOU are, don’t you? I know you do. You want this. YOU CAN HAVE THIS.)

Bottom line: Show up. Do the work.

“Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a very dirty peanut across the floor with your nose.” – Joyce Carol Oates

Keep pushing the fucking peanut. You CAN do this. No one gets it easily. It’s hard won, and it’s worth it. Keep me posted.

Onward!

xo, Rachael