How Much Do Authors Make Per Book?

Book Riot report 11 May (2021).

It’s a bit of a standard 101 explanation but always useful to know…

 

How much do authors make per book? As with everything else in publishing, the answer is: It depends. A lot of readers have the idea that every author is wealthy, but that is far from the truth. Yes, Stephen King probably has more money than he’ll ever need, but he is an outlier. The majority of authors don’t even make a living wage with their books.

In 2018, the Authors Guild partnered with 14 other writers organizations as well as some publishing platforms to conduct a survey of 5,067 professional writers in the United States. The median 2017 income of participating authors was $6,080 with just $3,100 of that being from book income alone (as opposed to speaking fees, teaching, book reviewing, and other supplemental activities). The median income of people who described themselves as full-time authors was just $20,300 when including all book-related activities.

HOW DO AUTHORS GET PAID?

Before we get into the numbers, I want to explain how author payment works in the traditional publishing industry, since I’ve seen a lot of confusion about it. Typically, when an author signs a publishing contract, they or their agent negotiate an advance against royalties. When a press release or article states that a book “has sold for” so many dollars, this amount is the advance and not a flat purchase price. An advance is often paid in three installments: when the contract is signed, when the manuscript is accepted by the publisher, and when the book is published. Some publishers may break down these payments even more.

Once the book is published, authors make a percentage of sales (more on this later) for each book sold, which are their “royalties.” However, since they have received an advance against royalties, they are essentially earning money they have already been paid. They don’t get paid again until their royalties have surpassed their advance amount, which can take any amount of time from before the book is even published until…well, never. Once a book has made the author the amount of royalties they were advanced, they begin to earn additional royalties; this is often called “earning out.” If the book never makes the advance back, the author does not have to pay the overage back to the publisher, except in circumstances where they have violated/terminated the contract.

This is a general description of the process and there are any amount of variances. For example, some authors will receive no advance and many authors who write for established intellectual properties will receive a flat amount instead of royalties. All of this to say that some traditional authors will never receive more than that initial advance payment, while some authors may continue earning money on books until they die. And some authors lose money if they spend more on promotion, marketing, and expenses than they end up making.

HOW MUCH DO AUTHORS MAKE PER BOOK?

A traditionally published author makes 5–20% royalties on print books, usually 25% on ebooks (though can be less), and 10–25% on audiobooks. Amazon pays self-published authors 70% on ebooks priced 2.99 to 9.99, 35% on ebooks priced outside of that, 60% less printing costs on paperbacks sold on their platform, and 40% less printing costs sold via expanded distribution.

In traditional publishing, the publisher manages the process and pays for all costs associated with producing and distributing the book as well as a widely varied amount of marketing, while a self-published author is responsible for that process and those costs.

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