Is it possible to make a livable wage as an author today? It’s not impossible, but it’s not the windfall of income that some people believe when beginning a writing career.
I’ve seen too many people become authors for the sake of “making it rich.” In reality, though, it’s not as easy as cranking out 85,000 words and expecting a fat deposit from Amazon every month.
The truth of the matter is that most authors need a job outside of writing just to pay the bills. Although a lot of that has to do with getting poor royalty rates as creators, there are a lot of variables at play.
How Many Books Do You Need to Sell?
Let’s say you start by selling your eBook for $4.99. I’ve seen authors price their eBooks far lower than that, but we’ll use the pricing for mine as it seems to be close to the norm.
According to KDP, you’ll earn a royalty of $3.42 if you stick with the 70% scheme.
If you live alone in Denver, Colorado, the livable wage is roughly $20.25 per hour (from 2018). That means you’d have to sell about 47 eBooks per day to replace a full-time income and make enough money to pay the bills.
That’s 12,316 eBooks per year.
This doesn’t include anything you spend to market your book as a self-published author. And in reality, this is the best-case scenario.
When it comes to print versions of your book, you’ll need to sell a lot more to make a living as an author.
Paperback and Hardcovers
Now, let’s say you sell a paperback for $12.99. The printing costs will differ depending on the length of your book, but let’s use Kingmaker as an example.
In my case, my royalty per book sold is $2.95, and that’s if I decide not to enroll in Expanded Distribution, which would cut the royalties down to just $0.36 per book.
Using the same cost of living for Denver, Colorado that I mentioned in the eBook section, I would have to sell 55 books per day. Or, I’d have to sell 14,300 books throughout the year.
When it comes to hardcovers, the scheme is quite similar. The biggest difference is that it takes longer to print and they are more expensive in general.
Even though Amazon displays the rate at “60%,” you’re only making roughly 23% of the total sale. Of course, this is also based on my pricing scheme for Kingmaker.
According to WordsRated.com, traditionally published authors make even less. They can expect a range between 5 and 15%.
How Do You Make a Livable Wage as an Author?
For some, 50+ books per day isn’t an impossible feat. But when you’re self-publishing, it’s very difficult to rack up those kinds of numbers.
Keep in mind that anything you spend for the development and marketing of your book is going to cut into your net income.
When things align just right, and you have a bit of money for marketing, it is possible to generate enough sales to make a livable wage as an author.
That is as long as you’re single without children. Otherwise, you’ll need significantly more sales.
So, what stars do you have to align to generate that kind of income? Well, you can…
- Write a book that a lot of people will want to read.
- Market yourself as much as possible everywhere, including in-person events and social media.
- Keep marketing expenses low while having the best return on investment.
- Live within your means to keep household expenses down (obviously).
- Write another book while still marketing previous ones.
- Sell eBooks directly from your own website to cut out the middleman (Amazon).
Out of everything above, writing a good book and then marketing it are the two biggest contributors to making a livable wage as an author.
What About Using AI to Write a Book?
If you use AI-generated text in any of your manuscripts, you are not an author…you’re a prompt jockey. It’s lazy writing, and I have no respect for you if you claim it as your own.
Sorry, but that’s how I feel about artificial intelligence as “creators.”
Now, there are some positive uses for AI as an author, such as getting ideas or pouring over data to come up with marketing strategies and such.
But the moment you have AI write a sentence in your book, you’ve lost my respect.
When I hire writers or read books from authors, I do so because of the person’s creativity, skill, and personality. I do so as a connection to the individual and how he or she sees the world.
Having a bot fill in your blanks because it’s quicker is yet another shortcut that removes humanity from art for the sake of making or saving a buck.
I do not and will never condone using AI-generated content either as a writer or an artist for imagery outside of ideation or data analysis.
What About Low-Content Books?
When it comes to low-content books, the sales required to make a livable wage are similar to paperbacks and hardcovers from above. It centers around the “60%” rate unless you use the Expanded Distribution option.
The biggest difference, however, comes in the form of printing costs. When there isn’t much to print overall, you can sell the books for a much lower price than a novel.
I know, there are a lot of videos on YouTube about making more than a livable wage as an author selling low-content books. But it’s not the average consensus.
Not to mention a lot of these so-called strategies from a couple of years ago don’t work as well today.
This is especially true when you consider the sheer saturation of the market. When you flood any market with the same or similar products, the income decreases rapidly.
Essentially, your low-content book is lost to the ether and buried under a mound of competition. You need to make something that stands out for your specific target audience.
Most of the people who make a lot of money selling low-content books have one unavoidable absolute: marketing.
As I’ve said before, if people don’t know your book exists, they won’t buy it. You have to find ways to reach your target audience that are above and beyond the simple methods.
A lot of people seem to have some great selling experiences on TikTok, so that might be a decent place to start.
The bottom line is that you’ll have to be as adamant about low-content books as you are about marketing everything else.
Marketing is the Vital Component
Yes, writing a good book is important if you want good reviews and build a fan base for your work. However, without marketing, no one would know to buy the book in the first place.
At the end of the day, even a poorly written book with mostly 3-star reviews can generate a livable wage for an author if it’s marketed properly.
Marketing is perhaps one of the most vital components when it comes to turning any kind of writing into a career. Whether you’re a blogger, freelancer, or beginning author, you’ve got to get yourself out there to make a decent amount of money.
When you’re self-publishing, marketing can be quite an exhaustive and expensive venture. And although there are professionals that can help you with marketing and public relations, it’ll still cost you some up-front cash.
Nonetheless, marketing is crucial for your books. You can’t just use the “best keywords” for Amazon and cross your fingers.
Start with what you can do for free and then work your way up when your budget allows.
A few free methods to marketing your book include:
- Using the BookTok hashtag on TikTok
- Using the Bookstagram hashtag on Instagram
- Setting up email lists from your blog or Substack
- Promoting yourself in person at certain events
- Creating popup ads on your blog with a free plugin
- Being active on social media in general (engage your fans)
It’s Hard to Make a Livable Wage as an Author Today
It takes a lot of effort on your part to generate a decent income from your books. This is especially true for self-published authors as we have to handle the entire process ourselves.
Still, it’s not impossible as some authors have been able to generate a great deal of income. It all comes down to creating something people want and then marketing the hell out of it.
What are some marketing methods you plan on using for your book?
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