Today I’m parting the curtain and letting you know how much an author earns from writing a book. Of course, this varies widely from author to author and even from book to book by the same author. That’s because it all depends on you-the readers who buy NEW books.

When I first began the trek to publication, my dh glimpsed the headline of a writing magazine which touted a first time author receiving a six figure advance. I grinned and said, “Honey, if that were commonplace, it wouldn’t be on the cover.” GRIN

Drop by Brenda Hiatt’s Show Me the Money

Look at the list and find Steeple Hill who is my publisher of my Love Inspired mass market (That’s what the small paperbacks that fit in your purses are called.) romances.

Brenda uses three important words for writers:
1- advance or advance on royalties, which is what the publisher pays the author after approving a finished manuscript or a book proposal. (Its purpose is to keep the author alive till the book is on the shelves and earning royalties.)
2- earn-out, which is how much $ the book brought in.
When the book comes out, the author receives no more $ until the book has “earned-out” the advance on royalties.
3-standard royalty percentage-which is the amount of the price of the book that returns to the author in royalties.

Take the earn-out amount and divide it by 6 or 12 for the months that it takes to work through from inspiration to finished and accepted manuscript. And notice the range of earn-out (what the book makes in royalties total including the advance.) It all depends on how many readers buy the book, AND BUY THEM NEW not used. An author receives nothing for any book sold used or shared.

So are you surprised at what an author earns?