I talk to so many aspiring authors and it concerns me that some think that their book will be the key 
to retirement or a ticket to financial freedom. I hate to deliver bad news, but the fact is that a very small percentage of authors actually make a living from a single book.
Consider the financials involved. If you go with a traditional publisher, you’ll be lucky to earn $1.25 per book sold (yep, really!). If you sell 10,000 books in a year (which is a very high number and not a likely reality for most new authors), you’d earn $12,500. Not bad, but not exactly enough to live on. You also have to deduct any book advance that you received so if the publisher paid you $7,500, your net at the end of the year would be $5,000.
The numbers are better with self-publishing. Let’s say you earn $4 per book sold and sell 10,000 books. You’d earn $40,000, which ain’t bad. Of course you have to deduct your expenses for book production and promotion. Let’s say you spent $10,000, which means your net would be $30,000. Still not enough to retire on.
And I must repeat: the odds of a new author selling 10k copies in a year are pretty darn low. Sadly, the statistics for self-published authors are dim at less than 200 copies sold, total. (It takes a heck of a lot of marketing to sell books.)
The moral of the story: Very few people earn a living from books. Of course there are authors who hit the Big Time: Stephen King, James Patterson, John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks. And recently we’ve heard buzz from some self-published authors who have kicked some indie butt: John Locke, Amanda Hocking, and JA Konrath. But there aren’t many success stories like this. Only a lucky few hit the literary lotto.
What does that mean to your publishing future? It shouldn’t change a thing if you’re passionate about what you’re doing.
And there’s another benefit here that many people miss. Your book is a ticket to bigger and better opportunities. It can open doors to help you land speaking engagements. Readers will want to invest in your consulting services or coaching programs. A book can get you media attention, impress prospects, build an audience for your services, and can lead to opportunities you haven’t even imagined for yourself!
Just don’t count on it for your retirement portfolio and instead use it to build your empire. The rewards can still be tremendous.
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Stephanie,
I’d like to hear more about NYT bestselling authors and their day jobs. Who are they, what do they do?
Hi Meta, My point is that many authors from the best seller lists are not full-time authors. Take a look at the list at any give time, especially for non-fiction, and you’ll find business owners, speakers, kids (!), teachers, doctors, and people with a wide variety of jobs.
Non-fiction, yes. But can you list some NYT best selling fiction authors and their day jobs? I’m curious.
The NY Times Best Sellers fiction list show a lot of well-known authors, who all started out with just one book, and one commercial success CAN lead to continued appearances on the list. But remember they all started somewhere. I remember reading that James Rollins was a veterinarian for a number of years while his books began hitting the best sellers lists. After several hits, he finally gave up his practice. For the lesser known authors on the list, many have jobs. A quick scan of the current NY Times Best Seller List shows:
Tatiana de Rosnay – Journalist
Abraham Verghese – Professor at Stanford/doctor
Randy Alcorn – Minister
I could keep going, but I don’t have time. You can do the research too! The point is that authors need to make it BEFORE they quit their day jobs–and that’s not an easy thing to do. Read Stephen King’s “On Writing” for a better perspective on what it takes to truly reach success.