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Most authors earn less than £600 ($1,000) from their writing

27 January 2014

Further information from the 2014 Digital Book World and Writer's Digest Author Survey shows the appallingly low level of income most writers get from their books. In News Review 13 January the first part of this research was revealed, but the research has also yielded information from the 9,000 witers who took part about their earnings from their writing.

54% of traditionally-published authors and almost 80% of self-published writers are making less than $1,000 (£600) a year. A tiny proportion - 0.7% of self-published writers, 1.3% of traditionally-published, and 5.7% of writers in both categories - reported making more than $100,000 a year from their writing. Writers' incomes might vary considerably depending on what they're writing, but for this study the profile of the typical author was ‘a commercial fiction writer who might also write non-fiction and who had a project in the works that might soon be ready to publish'.

It's quite alarming to find that so many writers are making so little income from their books, especially when the expectation of so many writers is that they will strike it rich and make a considerable income from their writing. A tiny proportion of the writers surveyed - 0.7% of self-published writers, 1.3% of traditionally-published, and 5.7% of writers who are both - reported making more than $100,000 (£60,000) a year from their writing.

You are more likely to make some money from your writing if you self-publish, not just because the author's share of the income from a self-published book will be much higher but also because it is so hard to get published by a publisher whereas it's quite straightforward to self-publish. It's just that doing it really successfully is quite hard.

In the meantime it's reassuring to hear a further finding of the study, which is that most writers who pursue this career don't do so primarily for financial reasons. And it remains good advice not to expect your writing to make a fortune.

Don't give up the day job.

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