In the last month, there have been a few informative articles discussing how much authors earn:
The One Where Writing Books Is Not Really a Good Idea by Elle Griffin (Substack)
How Much Do Authors Make Per Book? by Sarah Nicolas (BookRiot)
How Much Do Authors Actually Earn? by Lincoln Michel (Substack)
All of these are excellent pieces, written and reported by people bringing transparency to the money side of the writing life. If you go and read them, you'll have a meaningful education in what to expect as a writer if you're just starting out. This is a subject near and dear to my heart and why I wrote The Business of Being a Writer. I'd heard too often-usually from speakers at AWP-that they wish someone had told them, before they went into six-figure debt for their MFA, that writing doesn't pay that well. Not even a minimum wage.
