Check out PublishersMarketplace.com A lot of deals list a "deal range". It'll give you a better idea of what people are getting for their books.
You can't make a living just writing. Period. All my research indicates that it's not possible. Basically what I'm saying is, don't quit your day job. It takes too long to get a novel ready for publication and you only get paid a few thousand dollars for it. Not enough to last you through the next two or three years it takes you to write another novel. Sad, but true.
Um . . . many writers make a living from their writing. Several of whom are on this very board. So to say it will never happen is a bit . . . extreme.
What is important to note is how difficult it is to achieve that. That it is a lot of work, and yes some luck. There are easier ways to get rich than writing, and so that is why it is always recommended that writers truly love the writing first, the money second.
But to make the blanket statement "You can't make a living just writing. Period." is um . . . well just not true.
Guys, I meant novel writing. Sorry I didn't clarify.
CeCe
May I ask the names of some of your novels?
Congratulations on your diligent road to success.
Rosa
Sorry, Rosa, but I'm anonymous here. I discovered (a few forums in the past) that I prefer it this way.
I see that you're from the Southeast. Bob?
(Another data point, without any actual data: I'm a lot closer to making a living from novels than I ever thought I'd be. But I actually like my job, and I'm all about the health benefits and 401k plans, so I'll be here a little bit longer.)
CheshireCat, you seem to be very knowledgeable and It can take years from the time you plot out an idea, write you chapters, complete the rough draft, revise and edit the draft, send out the manuscript to beta readers, receive feedback from the beta readers, make appropriate adjustments, send the manuscript back to the beta readers, make adjustments, write a query letter, research potential agents, send out queries to agents, receive rejections, revise query letters, send revised queries, receive requests for partials, receive rejections, revise partials, send partials, receive requests for the full manuscript, receive rejections, revise full manuscript, send out the full manuscript to the interested agents, get representation from an interested agent, agent then sends the full manuscript to several publishers, receive rejections, make adjustments to the manuscript per the request of a publisher, the full manuscript is accepted, contract is drafted with a publisher, royalties and advance are discussed, advance is paid off to you, novel is then scheduled for publication, novel is marketed, reviews of the novel are made, and finally the novel is published and sold after the appropriated street date.
I was always aware of this but to see it compiled like this..........oh well must keep up my hopes. My novel shall find a place in some dusty bookstore someday.
Also, Darzian, you'd be amazed how much tech authors with a BSc in BioTech can make!
Forgive me, but what do you mean by tech author? Never heard the term before.
And thanks for the encouragement!
People who write documentation for stuff, be it computers, mass spectrometers, or cameras.
Few people have both engaging writing skills and high-level understanding of a particular science, so if you do the BioTech and can write non-fiction in a way that doesn't make a reader lapse into a coma, you're onto a winner job-wise. And a paying job's always a good stopgap until the money from the novels starts pouring in