Most writers want to make money off their writing. If not enough to pay their bills, then enough to pay for the writing itself—new notebooks, conferences, workshops, publishing expenses, the like. Maybe you want to start or grow a retirement fund, pay for your annual vacation, or send your kid to college.
However, the unfortunate truth about royalties is that very few authors make enough money from them to live. I could point you to dozens of surveys that show the actual numbers shared by authors (Check out Jane Friedman’s HotSheet, the Author’s Guild, and Written Word Media), but the one that sticks with me the most is that in Alli’s survey last year, they found that the median revenue for self-published authors who spend more than half their time writing and publishing was $12,749 per year, and for traditionally published authors, it was $8,600 per year. And the average income? Over $80k. For those of you who aren’t great at math, this means that the average is extremely skewed by people making a lot of money. While over half of authors sit under $15k annually.
Regardless, $8k - $15k is not even close to enough to live on, at least not in the United States.
Of course, with enough hustle, hard work, financial and time investment, and luck, you may absolutely be able to achieve those financial goals.
But if you are unable to achieve those financial targets, it doesn’t mean your work is bad or not worth publishing. Rather, it simply means that publishing is a difficult business.
Royalties, in my opinion, are actually a pretty terrible way to measure the quality of a book. There are so many other metrics. Like:
Did you enjoy writing it?
Did it impact a single reader’s life in a positive way?
Did you learn anything from the process?
Did you achieve other goals during the process of writing?
Did it make your life better in some way?
Think of all the books on the bestseller list that you hated but seemed like everyone else loved them. See? Money doesn’t mean a book is good. There is so much subjectivity and luck that goes into entertainment and the enjoyment of literature.
But money is important. We do live under capitalism, whether we like it or not.
And if you would like to make some income to at least enable you to continue to publish, I have a tip for you. It’s called: alternative revenue streams.
Alternative revenue streams are simply other ways of making money. Having multiple ways of income generation can offer a more stable income, as well as allow you to adjust and adapt as the market and your life changes.
Here is a (incomplete) list of alternative revenue streams other authors use, that might also work for you.
Have a full- or part-time job. Tons of authors write evenings, weekends, and vacation days. It’s okay. It doesn’t mean you are a failure as a writer if you can’t immediately quit your job. It just means that publishing is a difficult business.
Have a partner with a full- or part-time job. Many writers (including myself) have a partner who pays most or all of the bills while they pursue their career. This also doesn’t mean you are a failure as a writer. It just means that publishing is a difficult business.
Do freelance work. This is also quite a common method of earning money. I do editing, teaching, and consulting and teaching to help pay for my business costs when royalties are low. Freelance can look like a lot of different things. Maybe it means babysitting your neighbor’s kids. Or drafting content for online companies. Or ghostwriting. You get to choose. And if you do these things to help supplement your business income, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a writer. It just means this is a difficult business.
Find passive income streams. Passive income streams are great, though, a bit of a misnomer. A passive income stream is something that you (supposedly) set up once, and then do minimal maintenance on, but it keeps generating income. Rental income is often passive. Or getting paid out dividends on an investment. Setting up Google ads on your website might be considered passive, though if you want to make more money on them, you have to drive more website traffic, which is not really all that passive, imo. I make about $5/month in Google ads, in case you were wondering, with about 2k visits to my website per month. There are lots of potentially passive income streams. And if these options help? It doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a writer. It just means this is a difficult business.
Create online courses. What would you teach about? Great question. Whatever you want. Writing, maybe. Marketing, I guess. What are you good at? What do you know a lot about? Many writers get stuck on teaching about writing, but I bet you know other stuff too. Parenting? Whatever you do/did for a day job? What your degree is in? Your hobbies? Time management? Gardening? Contracting? Throwing birthday parties? And if teaching helps pay the bills, that's great! It doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a writer. It just means this is a difficult business.
There are a lot of other ways to get money. Honestly, I could probably make more money working a part-time hourly job in retail or fast food than I make writing books, and I’ve seriously considered it on occasion, just to make our lives a little bit easier. I might still opt to do that at some point. We shall see.
Royalties aren’t all that. They’re nice, sure. But if you’re not making bank, it’s not necessarily you. It’s not necessarily your books. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a writer.
It just means this is a difficult business.
And you’re not alone in that.
