#MondayGyanforCreatives - Author Income
Sharing the bits I know about Author Income that eventually becomes a point of discussion in writer circles.
How much do authors earn?
When can I grow enough to become a Rowling or a Stephen King or an Amish?
Coming to Basics+
Traditionally published newbie authors start at around 8% royalty. That is, sale of a book priced Rs. 300 at full price fetches the author Rs. 24
If your monthly sustenance budget is say Rs. 50,000, you need to sell 2084 copies that month (and at full price) ++
Needless to say, selling that many copies needs a marketing investment where the returns are way too iffy. So,
*One book out there cannot sustain an author.*
Even in Self published cases where the royalty is supposedly 70% (Amazon KDP), the competitive pricing and lack of+
Cost effective Print and distribution model works out somewhat the same. Only consolation for the Self unpublished authors is that they did not bother to go through the gruelling wait cycle that their traditionally published peers undergo. That is a different topic. Coming back+
+to how authors can breakeven. Here is the secret.
Royalties form only a small part of an author income. An author's income is what the author chooses to earn. For eg, my income till date includes:
Royalties
Editing
Mentoring fee
Screen adaptation
Ghost/Co-writing
Referrals+
Other income channels include Public speaking, Conducting courses, content writing, etc.
Another important, rather crucial truth.
Royalties increase when you have more books out in the market.
Your profile as subject authority builds with more books out there on shelves.
Sales is a tricky area. More often than not, an 'over night success' author is a consequence of a decade of hard work + a genius brain team of marketing behind.
So a sustainable author income is built by opening up yourself to a couple of non royalty income streams+
+While not sacrificing your core-writing books time.
It is a typical phase every entrepreneur building a product understands. We see them sustaining on a service stream while they slog off to build a product.
Hope the thread was helpful.
For further reading, do refer +
Your Author Business Plan by @thecreativepenn
amzn.to/3GQMesZ
and
How to make a living with your Writing by the same author
amzn.to/3txPwgI
If you found this thread useful or interesting, do please share with your writer friends and click on retweet. Also refer to my last week's thread on Writer's block -
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