Is it possible to make good money out of novel writing

[viixie]

Just that really, is it even possible to make good money out of novel writing as in the pay off your mortgage variety?

Possible - think of the household name contemporary writers and the blockbuster variety - but highly unlikely. The first rule of writing according to my agent is "Don't give up your day job". People often complain that writing is an increasingly middle-class occupation but, imo, you need to have a nest egg/a partner who can financially support you/very flexible working in order to give it a go and that tends to be more middle-class territory.

(themental who regularly posts on this board makes very good money self-publishing but her turnaround rate is extraordinary.)

The Society of Authors cites the average salary for an author as £10,000 a year. The truth is that it’s wildly variable! I made enough with my first advance to give up my job but not enough to pay off my mortgage. The majority of writers will have another job or source of income, some will make enough for it to be their only income and very rarely you get a J K Rowling who makes a phenomenal amount. It depends on your genre, talent, agent, publisher and marketing team and it’s impossible to predict. You can’t really go into writing in the hopes of making a lot of money but it might happen!

It really is a piece of string. I know commercial fiction authors who make a living from their writing but I don't know what their outgoings are. I think the 'average 10k' is about right considering there are a lot of authors who earn less than that. I have a 3 book contract with a trad. publisher but my advance isn't enough to live on. It's certainly not a profession you could go in to without something else as a day job at first.

Well, I wouldn’t go into it in the hopes of that happening, but yes, technically possible though statistically unlikely. Literally every novelist I know has a job, including some well-known and successful ones. A close friend won the Orange Prize and got an advance of about £250,000 for her last two-book deal, but has young children with additional needs and a SAHP spouse and did not seriously contemplate giving up her job, as she’s aware of future insecurity.

Possible but highly unlikely, same as acting or music etc.

I can’t think of anybody in my agency who doesn’t have another job- though a lot of people are teaching creative writing.

I match my previous salary (when I had a ‘real’ job), but payments are erratic and it can be a bit edge-of-seat wondering whether particular publishers will send their money in time for my mortgage. So far, it’s always been ok!