Money.

emeraldcite · Feb 23, 2007

John Scalzi has an interesting post on writerly income. If you haven't read Scalzi, you should. He's a really great author.

I think his discussion puts some things in perspective about how much money an author makes and how long it takes to make it.

Keep in mind: he's doing really well in terms of sales...

If you search his blog, you'll find some other posts on money as well. He has a decent non-fiction income as well.

Enjoy!

Jamesaritchie · Feb 23, 2007

Income

emeraldcite said:
John Scalzi has an interesting post on writerly income. If you haven't read Scalzi, you should. He's a really great author.

I think his discussion puts some things in perspective about how much money an author makes and how long it takes to make it.

Keep in mind: he's doing really well in terms of sales...

If you search his blog, you'll find some other posts on money as well. He has a decent non-fiction income as well.

Enjoy!

Well, that's how much a specific writer in a specific genre makes. Scalzi is doing pretty well, probably very well, for a fairly new SF writer. He's doing wonderfully for some genres, lousy for others.

It's pretty difficult to reach any conclusions by looking at any single writer, though I suspect a great many people out there would kill to make 67K in a single year.

Mae · Feb 23, 2007

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

swvaughn · Feb 23, 2007

To quote Mr. Krabs: "I like money."

Thanks for the link!

maestrowork · Feb 23, 2007

Summary: Keep writing and keep selling.

emeraldcite · Feb 24, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
Well, that's how much a specific writer in a specific genre makes. Scalzi is doing pretty well, probably very well, for a fairly new SF writer. He's doing wonderfully for some genres, lousy for others.

It's pretty difficult to reach any conclusions by looking at any single writer, though I suspect a great many people out there would kill to make 67K in a single year.

$67,000 is a nice sum, but it's interesting to note how long it took him to reach that point.

There's some good info in there that's less about his specific income and more about how money functions in the writing world.

It took 17 months for him to recieve royalties for his first Tor novel. He now has three books out from them, all of which come out in hardcover first, and it takes some time for the royalties to make it to him.

Publishing isn't just slow on the submission end, it's also slow on the payment end. When it comes down to newbies heading into this world, I think Scalzi's post helps warn people not to quit their day job even when they sell their novel.

It's an interesting look, albeit not the first, into how advances, royalties, and reserves against returns work.

johnzakour · Feb 24, 2007

Behind all successful writers is a non-writer with a good day job.

maestrowork · Feb 24, 2007

emeraldcite said:
$67,000 is a nice sum, but it's interesting to note how long it took him to reach that point.

But if you look at the progression from $400 to $67,000, that's not bad. It took me 7 years to go from $30,000 (starting salary) to $45,000. Pretty sad. But once I got to an experience level, my pay was doubled within three years (before the economy went south and the company decided not to grant pay raises at all). Same with writing. The idea is that keep writing, selling, and getting credits.

PeeDee · Feb 24, 2007

johnzakour said:
Behind all successful writers is a non-writer with a good day job.

It also doesn't hurt, as was mentioned elsewhere, to find a day job that you can enjoy. If my novels don't bring in a fortune, well, then I'll just stay at my used bookstore, won't I? Fine by me.

Writing isn't about the money...but you'd still be silly not to pay attention to money, when it's mentioned.

Rhea L · Feb 24, 2007

PeeDee said:
It also doesn't hurt, as was mentioned elsewhere, to find a day job that you can enjoy.

Absolutely. The only reason I don't hate getting up every morning and spending eight hours in an office is because I love my day job. Even so, I can't wait to go home and write, and it doesn't keep me from spending every shortest break thinking about the upcoming scenes in my current WiP. But if I hated the job, I'd have a much, much harder time sticking to it in between.... writing sessions. And sleep.

I'm a graphic designer with a web design company, btw.

Andon · Feb 24, 2007

PeeDee said:
It also doesn't hurt, as was mentioned elsewhere, to find a day job that you can enjoy. If my novels don't bring in a fortune, well, then I'll just stay at my used bookstore, won't I? Fine by me.

Writing isn't about the money...but you'd still be silly not to pay attention to money, when it's mentioned.

Sometimes I'm glad I'm a student (Though not particularly often... school's boring most of the time). This lets me write without having to worry about income. If it works and sells, yay. If it doesn't, oh well.

maestrowork · Feb 24, 2007

PeeDee said:
It also doesn't hurt, as was mentioned elsewhere, to find a day job that you can enjoy. If my novels don't bring in a fortune, well, then I'll just stay at my used bookstore, won't I? Fine by me.

Writing isn't about the money...but you'd still be silly not to pay attention to money, when it's mentioned.

Or find some other ways for money. It's not to say one can't earn a good living writing, and eventually, I'd like to see my sales become good enough to be "proud of" -- best-selling author is a title I won't be shy to accept. But to me, it's not really about money either. I have the good fortune of having saved a nice nest egg and knowing a thing or two about investing, so I don't have to live on my writing. That frees me to do what I really am passionate about. Now if you happen to have day job you really like, all the better. Life is too short. I told myself I would never go back to waiting tables again!

Cassiopeia · Feb 24, 2007

PeeDee said:
It also doesn't hurt, as was mentioned elsewhere, to find a day job that you can enjoy. If my novels don't bring in a fortune, well, then I'll just stay at my used bookstore, won't I? Fine by me.

Writing isn't about the money...but you'd still be silly not to pay attention to money, when it's mentioned.

As always you put things into perspective for me PeeDee..Thank you. Remembering it isn't about money helps take some of the fear of failure out of it for me.

Ad Astra · Feb 24, 2007

Ah yes, there's always that New Hope supernatural store that could use me once I'm old enough.

I'm going to be a music teacher and a waitress (on weekends). Between serving food and grading papers, I WILL be the super-writer. :e2cheer:

johnzakour · Feb 24, 2007

PeeDee said:
It also doesn't hurt, as was mentioned elsewhere, to find a day job that you can enjoy.

I don't think I can even say "day job" any longer.

Actually my day job is writer and my night job is cartoonist.

(I've been an EMT and teach judo on the side but that's more to get out of the house...)

Shadow_Ferret · Feb 24, 2007

What's an agent reader and how do I get one?

PeeDee · Feb 24, 2007

It's a device that predicts what agents are going to say. They're pretty cheap.

Penguin Queen · Feb 24, 2007

I think in the UK the statistic among members of the Society of Authors (where I think to become a member one ust have ahd a book published) is that 90 per cent of members have a day job to finance their writing habit.
Bit sobering, that. But of course no reason at all not to work as hard as possible at trying to earn a living from writing.

PeeDee · Feb 24, 2007

Penguin Queen said:
I think in the UK the statistic among members of the Society of Authors (where I think to become a member one ust have ahd a book published) is that 90 per cent of members have a day job to finance their writing habit.
Bit sobering, that. But of course no reason at all not to work as hard as possible at trying to earn a living from writing.

But then we remember what we think about statistics, and then we feel a little less sober about it.

Penguin Queen · Feb 24, 2007

Money.

emeraldcite

Art is Resistance

Jamesaritchie

Mae

this is me - is that you?

swvaughn

adrift

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

emeraldcite

Art is Resistance

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Rhea L

-enchanter-

Andon

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Cassiopeia

Otherwise Occupied

Ad Astra

Cok Seviyorum!!

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.