Before You Quit Your Day Job

The fantasy of writing (and/or translating, and/or illustrating) books for kids and teens and making a living doing so is certainly alive and well. 

We all listen to the wisdom of the award-winners and best-sellers who've achieved that -- and yet, it's helpful to set our expectations by knowing that most folks who are published are not making a living from their creative work alone.

I've heard it takes 40 books, or 100 books, or really just one that's such a huge bestseller that it changes the math.

It's always good to have some data. The Authors Guild released the results of their recent survey, and while it's on authors of everything, the results are eye-opening. Reported by Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly on September 29, 2023, Writing Books Remains a Tough Way to Make a Living, here are a number of highlights:

The survey, which drew responses from 5,699 published authors, found that in 2022, their median gross pre-tax income from their books was $2,000.

While the combined income (book income plus other writing-related income) of full-time, established authors (those who had written a book in 2018 or before) rose 21% in 2022 (to $23,329) from 2018, the median income was still below poverty level. 

The report did have some good news for aspiring authors, finding that the top 10% of established authors who participated in the survey had median book income of $275,000 last year. On the flip side, the bottom 50% had median book income of $1,300.

A fascinating note about those who publish their own work:

While in 2022, the median book-related income for full-time self-published authors was $10,200—much less than full-time traditionally published trade authors, who earned $15,000—established (five-plus years of publishing experience) full-time self-published authors more than doubled their book income in 2022 compared to 2018, to $19,000. Over that time, established full-time traditionally published trade authors’ book income only rose 11%, to $15,000, demonstrating that experienced self-published authors are now significantly more effective at boosting their earnings than their experienced traditionally published counterparts.

The full PW article is well-worth checking out.

A note as you digest this: money is just one measure of success, and it's important to include all the other measures of success creating work for kids and teens has for each of us when we think about the value of our work. 

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee

Don't Quit Your Day Job - The Authors Guild Publishes The Results of Their Largest Survey Ever of Author Income, and The Numbers are Modest (and Down)

With more than 5,100 authors participating (and multiple organizations—including SCBWI—getting their members to take part), this survey has six major takeaways that you can read here.

One of the big ones is that annual mean author income from books alone is just under $2,600!

A slide from the Authors Guild new survey of author income

The numbers, and report, are sobering information, well-worth reading, and useful—writing for kids and teens is certainly a "dream job," and at the same time it's important to have realistic expectations of what a career as a writer means financially.

Of course, there are those in the highest income ranks who are making $150,000 - $300,000 a year, but for the rest of us, well, look at the numbers:

$6,080 is the mean annual income of all published writers in 2017 (traditionally published, self-published, and hybrid published) from both book and writing-related income. For those of us in that vast majority, we need a day job/additional stream of income to make things work!

There's lots more to read in the report - do so here.

And Still, Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Laura Purdie Salas Talks Money, And Gives Details On How She's Making A Living As A Writer

In Laura's recent newsletter, she included an article "How Much Money Does a Writer Make?" in which she lays out (full disclosure!) her income from last year.

It's a remarkably brave thing to do.

We are so quick in our culture to reduce and judge a person's success - and a career's success - in financial terms only. Because of this, and perhaps because of, as Laura says, a sense that talking about money is "impolite," the real nuts-and-bolts of HOW a writer's income can all come together (or not come together) doesn't often get discussed.

So it's very instructive to see how all the different financial career elements come together for her.

With Laura's kind permission, I share her article here:

How Much Money Does a Writer Make?
If you think it's impolite to talk about finances, skip this article!

It's hard for writers to figure out if they can make a living by writing (and related activities), because there's so little info out there. So every year since 2007, I've shared my income on my blog. I'm switching to sharing it here, since I'm trying to reach educators with my blog now. 

Overall, 2013 was a great year. A LEAF CAN BE... got lots of lovely recognition, and I'm starting to work my way in to the world of educators and feel comfortable there, and I think that's where I need to be to promote my picture books and poetry.

Here's the breakdown of what I earned in 2013.

Web Work: I used to update webpages through the Children's Literature Network. In 2013, this accounted for $2,100 of my income. My work with CLN has come to an end, as the Network itself is dissolving in the next year. Although it wasn't a big source of income for me, I will really miss working with the CLN founders and meeting so many wonderful writers through my web work.

Trade Book Sales: My trade sales totaled $8,944. That's almost double my 2012 number. I'm especially excited about this because my goal is to do more trade books and fewer work-for-hire projects. This includes anthology payments/royalties, advances for two forthcoming picture books, and royalties on A LEAF CAN BE... and BOOKSPEAK!, my two trade books that are in print.

Work-for-Hire Books: $600. This number is waaaaay down. I only did one wfh book last year, and it was an ebook about car racing that I wrote through a packager. I'm of mixed feelings about this. I miss the steady work, but, as I try to build my career as a trade book writer, I'm thinking it's a good time to decrease my number of wfh books. So I didn't pursue more wfh books last year and am still trying to cement my approach in this area. (If you're interested in doing writing for the educational market, learn more about my textbook for writers here.)

Assessment: $5,340. I did loads of assessment writing in 2013. I mostly write poetry and nonfiction passages, though in 2013, I also did some fiction and some item-writing, too. Assessment writing is very different from writing for magazines, even though the length might be similar. I'm thinking of writing a how-to ebook for writers interested in this area. Sadly, with standardized assessments multiplying constantly, the demand for good, dependable writers in this area seems to be growing.

Teaching/Speaking: $4,238. I had a great time speaking last year. I spoke at a couple of university children's literature conferences, the Minnesota Library Association annual conference, the Loft Festival of Children's Literature, and a few library events. It's awesome connecting with teachers and librarians, and I'm hoping to do more of this!

School Visits: $11,553. Woohoo! That was 19 or 20 days of school visits or young authors conferences. I don't have tons lined up for 2014, though, and I'm wondering what to do to promote my visits more. Many writers at about my level of publishing history are charging $1,000+ per day, and they're getting it. I charge $680 per day, but when my rate was higher, I didn't book as much. Not sure if it's because Minnesota has SO MANY wonderful children's writers, many of whom do school visits, or whether it's my lack of name recognition. Another area I need to figure out this year!

Mentors for Rent: $2,206. This is the hourly writers' mentoring business I run with Lisa Bullard. It's another income stream that is small but brings a lot of satisfaction. We've had several clients get publishing contracts (both with trade publishers and educational publishers) this past year, which is wonderful. We have a new ebook just out (see below).

Ebooks: $523. This includes both the MFR books for writers and my ebook on Writing for the Educational Market. I'd love to sell more ebooks, since they are already made and can bring in more income with very little additional work. But wanting and doing are two different things:>)

Print version of Writing for the Educational Market: $963. Even though the Kindle version is only $9.95, I still sell some of the print version. I get great feedback on it, and there's really no other comprehensive guide to this market. So, this book keeps chugging along.

Copyediting: $6,312. This is a new category for me. I've done a bit of copyediting on and off, since I have newspaper copyediting experience. Last year, I did a huge copyediting project for a book packager. It was stressful at times, but also really interesting, since it was a literacy curriculum for another country. I learned so much! I don't have steady copyediting clients, though this is an area of income I could probably grow if I put my mind to it.

Miscellaneous sales: $32. I started selling autographed copies of my wfh books online. Last year, I only sold a couple, but I switched to an Amazon Sellers account recently, and I've already sold 5 or 6 this year. I'm not going to make much money on this, but it will help me clear out some shelf space, I hope! (I'm just selling off my author copies.) I don't sell my trade books this way--only my wfh books. (I also donate a lot of these books.)

That's a total of about $42,811. That's a 26% increase over my 2012 income, which is awesome! My goal for 2014 is to hit $40,000 again. I know I'm not going to make millions as a children's writer. But if I work hard enough, I like to think I can earn more than minimum wage. I work my buns off and do a million different things. But if that also allows me a little bit of actual writing time and the opportunity to connect with kids, educators, and other writers, either in person or through my books, then I am the luckiest worker I know:>)

NOTE: This is gross income. This doesn't include any of my own expenses-travel, promotion, office supplies, etc. nor the self-employment or sales taxes I paid.

P.S. Please Share this issue of the newsletter with other writers you know if you think this info might be useful to them. They will not be automagically subscribed or anything like that. 

Thanks, Laura!

You can find out more about Laura Purdie Salas at her online home, and you can sign up for her newsletter here.