yes, which is the problem i've outlined above your post - ie the 20k average figure.
by having the which bracket thing i think the picture is clearer
yes, only your own earnings.
Average Net Earnings Bracket for Published Fiction Writers
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by having the which bracket thing i think the picture is clearer
Another source of income information, though this doesn't distinguish between fiction and non-fiction, is this: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Media-and-Communication/Writers-and-authors.htm#tab-1 which puts the median pay for writers and authors at $55,420/year as of 2010.
I'm pretty sure the average is lower for fiction writers, but a lot of writers do both fiction and non-fiction, so maybe it's not so bad out there.
I'm pretty sure the average is lower for fiction writers, but a lot of writers do both fiction and non-fiction, so maybe it's not so bad out there.
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well, that's a pretty general definition of 'writer' (ie one who writes)
for this poll it's fiction writers specifically.
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I just re-read the initial post and realized I probably answered wrong. Did you mean to ask what we earn for a three year period, on average; or what we earn for a single year, based on three years of data, averaged?
Yeah, reminds me of the one where 3 writers are sitting quietly in a bar when Stephen King walks in, and the writers start cheering and celebrating. The barman asks why they're so happy and they explain that their average earnings just went through the roof.
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Hadn't heard that one, but I love it. In school, we had a math teacher who liked to bring up the man who slept with his head in the freezer and his feet in the oven. On average, he was very comfortable.
Average just has no meaning, and in writing, I don't think median means anything, either.
We're all individual entities, each with our own talent level, skill level, self-discipline level, productivity level, and what often gets left out entirely, our individual business sense.
A whole room full of average income writers, or a whole room full of median income writers, doesn't raise my earnings by a dime. I can't expect to earn the average or the median.
55 pollsters. not bad.
i suspect the percentages will pan out along the same lines even a 10 times that figure.
still ,one never knows.
i suspect the percentages will pan out along the same lines even a 10 times that figure.
still ,one never knows.
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Exactly. I've been writing for pay for three years, and my first year and a half weren't terribly lucrative. If the last quarter is any indication, my 2012 writing income will be more than double my 2011 income, which was roughly double my 2010 income. The average compared to the actual numbers seems pretty meaningless, especially when we start discussing those averages as indicative of how much people actually make per year.
If I made (and these numbers are complete bullshit; I'm not posting my actual income) $5,000 one year, $15,000 the next year, and $40,000 the following year, the average is $20,000. Using that as any indication of "income per year" kind of makes me scratch my head, you know? The average I used in the poll would put me in the "scraping by" category, when in fact I'm making more now than I did at my last full-time day job.
If we want to get a more accurate idea of what people are pulling in, why bother with averages? Why not a single year for some semblance of accuracy?
Well, my non-fiction article writing is way up there, but the fiction income is a pittance. So I'm low-boy.
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because some might be tempted to post their worse year, full of humility etc.
the quick explanation is this.
picking one year in the writing game isn't accurate, due to the nature of payments, which tend to vary year to year more than regular jobs
this for those who are recently published an average give a truer picture - (your own fictionalised case being a classic example) ie in a 'normal job, your income does not change dramatically year to year.
for those well established it also gives a truer picture.
either way, if you're uncomfortable with the poll, aint no thang. just skip it.
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