How much does a new novelist earn a year?

Answer 1

It totally depends upon how many of their books sell. As well as the author's royalties (money paid to the author) there are many other fees that have to be paid out of the cover price for the book. First, there is the publisher's fees (they don't publish for nothing!) - which is a percentage of the cover price of the book. Then add to that the the costs for the graphic designer of the cover, the editor, typesetter, printer, bookbinder, illustrator, proofreader, distributor, transport costs, warehouse fees, and the percentage cut for the bookshop or online store. After everything is paid most authors receive around 7 - 25% of the cover price of the book. This means that if a book is priced at $10 (or £10) then the author will get around 70c - $2.50 (70p - £2.50) for each book sold. Take out of this income tax, say, at 20% and you will be left with around 56c - $2.00 (56p - £2.00) per book sold. This doesn't sound very much - and it isn't as most authors sell books in the thousands or even just hundreds. If you took, say, 6 months to write a $10 (£10) book and 1,000 were sold, your total amount earned (based on the above figures) could be just $560 (£560) for six months' work or less than $100 (£100) a month. Or, if you had better royalties of 25% your total would still be only $2000 (£2000) or $333 (£333) a month. Not all is doom and gloom though! The successful author is one who writes several books with the intention of selling as many as possible. You also have to remember that as long as the book is in print, royalties will continue to pour in for years (without you lifting a finger!) whilst you are writing another book. In this way, the most successful authors are those whose books are popular, sell in millions (literally) and who write several books so that each one provides royalties. As an example, if you wrote five $10 (£10) books over a five year period, and published them all together, and each sold a million copies worldwide - based on the lowest royalties pecentage above you would make $2,800,000 (£2,800,000) for five years' work - over half a million dollars (£560,000) a year. With better royalties you would make even more - up to $12.5 million (£12.5 million) for a five year period, or $2.5 million (£2.5 million) a year . So the secret is to strive to be an author that writes not just one best seller but several - and negotiates a decent royalty. Get writing!
This depends entirely on the market! Different publishers pay different amounts. New authors make less than best-selling authors. Different genres pay different amounts.

To get some idea, find the latest edition of Writers' Market and see what some of the going rates per word are.

Answer 2

It varies greatly depending on book sales, advances, and royalties. On average, a new novelist can earn anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars in their first year. Success and earnings tend to increase with experience and a larger body of work.

Answer 3

Answer Writers aren't usually paid on a yearly basis. It really depends on who the writer is working for, or if the writer is working for themself. Writers who write books for example are usually paid royalities and those royalities are paid each 4th month periode. How much the writer makes depends on how well the publisher likes what he has read in the writers manuscript and how many books are printed out. Writers all want to be paid but a true writer, I mean true of heart isn't so much worried about dollar figures as they are worried that what they just took two years or so to write does end up getting published. Some writers get paid by the word and again that depends on who they work for. You might want to get a book in any book store that will tell you about writers guide lines and what topics will earn a writer the most profit. If you are an unpublished writer and thinking that this is the road to glory and tons of money, then you are in for a big surprise because the writing world is extremly hard to get into. Stephan King's aren't made they were born and if you were born to write I wish you all the best

Answer 4

All depends on the sucess of the book and the royalties he/she recieves.

Answer 5

New novelists earn very little from their writing. Only established novelists with substantial followings are able to make a living by writing alone.