Is there any money in writing a book these days?

[boredofironing]

Lots of my friends keep telling me I should write a book about a certain topic.
I need a way to earn more money after loosing £££ due to covid.
I keep wondering if now is the time to actually write one??
But is it financially worth it? I mean, I'm not expecting to be JJKRowling.

It’s extremely variable! A lot of authors have another job as well as writing. Something to be aware of as well is that it will be a long time between sitting down to start your first draft and getting paid. You will have to write it, edit it, secure an agent, edit it some more and have it go out on submission, if you get a publishing deal at that point you will get paid but your advance will be split into payment on signature, another few rounds of edits to get to the ‘delivery’ payment and then the final chunk on publication (possibly split so one part is for the hardback and the final instalment on release of paperback). So if you are looking for money in the short or medium term, writing a book is not the way to get it! It sounds like you might be considering non fiction from your OP in which case the process could be a bit quicker, but in general the journey to publishing does not move quickly. Advance payments can be any amount from low four figures to high six (or seven if you’re Richard Osman!) so it really depends on what you write.

Thankyou LegoPirateMonkey
Basically I now have much more time on my hands. £££ doesn't have to be immediate. But I'd like my efforts to be rewarded financially.

I have a friend who is published on Amazon. She won't be retiring from the day job any time soon. If I'm honest, what she writes is good, but not outstanding. And I'm not sure that an awful lot of luck isn't required even for outstanding.

The society of authors say that the average annual earnings of an author is 10k. That takes into account those who only earn a few hundred to the JKs of the writing world. So most authors need a second job as well.

moondust001
Could I be very crass and ask how much she makes per sale of book?
Don't worry if you'd rather not say.

@boredofironing

moondust001 Could I be very crass and ask how much she makes per sale of book? Don't worry if you'd rather not say.

From what I remember, you set the sale price and keep 70% from amazon. Its prudent however to have a period when you list for free (theres an option in your account) as this encourages readers and gets you reviews. Very few people will buy a book from an unknown author with no reviews.

Do you mean a novel or a textbook or other type of non-fiction.

If this is a one-off book, it's very unlikely you'd get an agent and publisher to take you on, unless you are in a unique situation such as you were married to or the child of someone infamous.

I think on Amazon if you charge £2.99 or more then you get 70% of the money (after Amazon takes a small cut. If you charge less, you get 30%. However, you have to bear in mind that there are many, many published books which sell for 99p or £1.99.

I mean on KDP - it's Amazon's self-publishing branch.

@boredofironing

moondust001 Could I be very crass and ask how much she makes per sale of book? Don't worry if you'd rather not say.

A pittance. Not worth the effort. I think if you want to write you write. It's not about money. If its about money, then a job is a better bet.

I will add (without outing myself in any way) that I am published by one of the top 5 trad publishing houses and my first novel was out last year, it was a USA Today bestseller but I'm not earning enough to live on. Usually you need to have had several books published so that you are getting royalties from your back list as well as the book each year that you publish.

What sort of book is it and how do you think you will want it published?

If you’ve got a niche skill, or business following, etc. then you can self-publish very easily nowadays via Amazon etc and make money from what you write by marketing and promoting it yourself.

If you’re writing a memoir about something really unusual that happened to you that has a good sales hook, maybe you’d get an agent and a book deal, but there are no guarantees.

If you’re thinking about writing a novel, honestly I wouldn’t bother because you don’t sound like you have an passion to write and you do need that because it’s a tough gig and a long time between writing and publication and you need to be prepared for lots of rejection (if going for traditionally published) or lots of work and making it a business of self-publishing.

Average advance for a fiction debut in the UK is £8k. Agent gets 15% so £6,800. (Agent takes 20% for international deals as they’ll work with a co-agent abroad.) You usually get paid in 3 stages: signing of contract, delivery of manuscript (meaning when it’s edited to their satisfaction, not just turning in a draft), and publication. And publication can often be a year after delivery So £2,266 when you sign, another £2,266 perhaps six months later, then £2,266 a year after that. Minus bank fees and other random admin costs that come off.

It’s not usually a get-rich quick (or slowly) scheme.

Do you feel enthusiastic about writing the book? If it's a chore to write it will probably be a chore to read.

If you do, then write it for enjoyment's sake and view any money you might make as a bonus. It sounds like you have potential beta-readers in your interested friends, so that will be useful once you have a first draft.

Have a look at what is selling well in a similar genre. If you are thinking of traditional publishing, have a look at agency websites and individual agents' Twitter to see who might be interested in your book.

If it's non-fiction most agents will look at a proposal rather than requiring a complete book, but producing an attractive proposal is an art in itself. If fiction, you'll need a full manuscript at submission stage although your initial submission will just be the first few chapters.

Whatever you write, there's nothing to stop you self-publishing and seeing what happens, but the more you research self-publishing, the better chance you can give your book of selling. There are lots of blogs and resources from successful self-published authors to give you a start.

Best of luck with the project whatever form it takes!

The chances are you won’t. But novels do still sell well and if yours do sell and you can keep pumping them out every year/two years then you can build up a good income stream.

Text book books do much less well because so many online resources now.

Thanks all. I have two topics bouncing around in my head (both non-fiction).

I wondered if I should try writing a few articles first, for web sites/ magazines?

Having the credential of some published articles would make your book proposal stronger (assuming, in the case of websites, these were well-regarded in whatever the field is).

If it's a technical or academic field you could speak to other contacts in your industry for advice about about publishing articles.

Certainly an idea worth exploring!