How do authors make money?

Including figures from the start of my author career

How much money do authors make from their books on average per year?

Let’s do a poll because I’d love to know what YOU think:

I’m going to share the results of the poll and the answer to that question via my next creative living journal, which goes out next Sunday, so stay tuned for that.

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The books themselves aren’t the only way authors make money. Many authors still work ‘regular’ jobs, and/or make money from other income streams like the following:

• Events/school visits/author talks

• PLR/ELR (Public Lending Rights and Educational Lending Rights)

• Running workshops and courses

• Grants/literary prizes

• Other forms of writing (like this! But could also include copywriting, freelance writing, and so on)

In fact, this graph from the Australian Society of Authors shows that the book itself isn’t even the main form of income for an author.

Screenshot from the Australian Society of Authors

Running workshops and mentoring and public speaking events bring in much bigger chunks of revenue than anything else. And really, I’m going to have a stab in the dark here and guess that the number of authors who receive grants/literary prizes is very small, so wipe that off the graph altogether for many of us. I mean, an author might be lucky enough to secure a grant or win a prize one year, but to do that year in year out would be very rare.

Does any of that shock you? I genuinely want to know your thoughts because none of it surprises me, but perhaps that’s because I studied a Master of Publishing and have been working in the industry for 10 years now. I mean, there are still MANY things I don’t know, and though I don’t know specific numbers in most cases, I’m not caught by surprise by earnings or where author income is coming from.

The reality is that many authors have to find other ways to supplement their income. And most authors can’t live off direct income from their books.

And really, that’s part of why I started offering a paid membership here – it’s currently a small part of my income but hopefully it will continue to grow. Editing other people’s books currently earns me a bigger chunk than my writing, but even that is currently lower than what someone on a welfare payment here in Australia would receive.

Part of that is because I’m balancing work with parenting and don’t have as much income-earning time (though it doesn’t feel like it lately while I’ve been working most nights until 1am to get work done!), and another part of it is that the careers I have chosen (and am passionate about) are generally low-paying.

This isn’t a woe is me post – I’m incredibly lucky that my husband brings in much more than me within our business and that I am able to work the jobs I do, but it is perhaps an eye-opening one about the realities of life as an author and freelance editor.

So the aim here is to apply the graph to my own working life to see how it tracks for me, particularly as the years go on. This will be the first of what I’m planning to share yearly.

I’m interested in being transparent to give others insight and now’s a great time to start because I’m at the very beginning, and I don’t think I have unrealistic expectations – I’m well aware, and have been for a long while, that being a published author does not translate to swimming in cash. But, I am interested in building my career to a point where all my income streams complement each other and I can be an author (and all the other things that entails) full-time.

I have no idea if I’m allowed to share all this so the specifics are going behind a paywall (there’s a deal on for 80% off forever right now up until the end of April 1, so if you sign up now you’ll only pay $1 a month or $10 a year and you can unsubscribe anytime – and hey, your contribution might just make the tiny Substack sliver on my chart a tiny bit bigger next year!).

I also want to add that although money is necessary, it’s not the way I measure success when it comes to my work. I feel successful in the things I’ve achieved so far – having a book published that’s available in stores and that people can buy feels HUGE to me! I feel successful in many ways already.

This post, rather, is about adding to discussions around creativity and earnings, and allowing me to see how it works in my own creative life and how that changes as my career grows.

So here goes …