How much money can someone realistically make with writing?
Not talking about some meme lottery books like 50 shades of Grey, but rather if I get to publish an average popular non fiction book.
Can I make a living out of it?
>>8142865
>How much money can someone realistically make with writing?
how ever much NEETbux pays these days
Jesus fucking christ no. It's like saying you want to be "a director." You can go make your own shit if you want, but it'll just be a hobby. You can sorta branch out into related stuff, like commercial editing, but that isn't really the same. The only people who actually become "a director" or "a writer" are insanely lucky or have some weird perfect storm of credentials that allows them to sell shit like GOOGLY-EYES: THE RIVETING TALE OF HOW NIGGERS WITH DYSLEXIA SAVED THE PRINTING PRESS, BY STEPHEN JAY PINKER. Literally like 98% of what is published and remotely commercially successful these days, even at a low level, is vampire penis erotica for teenage retards who should be killed.
>>8142865
>if I get to publish an average popular non fiction book.
about what lmao
is it a Gonzo journalism piece on Shakespeare authorship question?
>>8142876
>Only thing I'm really interested in is reading and writing
>Became pretty decent at writing over the years
>Writing seems pretty unsustainable
All I want to do is stop wageslaving my shitty job
>>8142865
The top 10% of full time professional writers are combining income from teaching positions, publications, and speaking fees/workshops. That's not too shabby, though generally not super loaded.
>>8142882
http://www.houellebecq.info/popdivers.php?id=13
>>8142882
just disregard that guy.
saying that you need to get lucky in order to break into an actually substantial field of art, like even film directing is for that matter, is just plain dumb.
all of the people who are famous for their art have worked their asses off to get where they are and have something substantial to offer, and those who haven't and who don't are trying to be the "sore losers" of the luck game in order to hide the fact that they're actually just losers.
>>8142892
>If you just have enough gumption, a market that exclusively buys fantasy novels written by adolescent girls will be interested in your throwback modernist bildungsroman.
>>8142896
> """"market""""
of course not.
so make your own market. at least with literature you never aim to appeal to "the market", but rather you write for the people that the novel will communicate with, and they buy it because it's relevant for them personally.
the rest of the money you make by doing jobs that you've become insanely better than other people at doing thanks to your writer skills.
how is this not common knowledge by [current yr]
>>8142890
holy shit this guy needs to lighten up.
reading this was a wake up call for me. i do not want to go through life being this bitter and toxic and outwardly miserable. i have major depression but the whole world does not need to know about it and feel it radiating off of me.
'despair must be kept private and brief' - werner herzog
Started selling my ebooks on Amazon the Sunday before last.
Doing rather well, actually.
I'm not going to recommit to the KDP SELECT option tho. Prime users get your shit for free, and I didn't write it for it to be given away for free by people who are getting paid to make my shit available for their paying customers.
You mean fiction? I'm not so sure about non-fiction.
In the UK you'll get like a £5-10,000 advance. You get 10% of sales. In the UK a really good yearly sales number is like 100,000 books. So if they sold on average for £7 you would get maybe £70,000.
Literary fiction sells a lot less than that. Maybe a few thousand so you would realistically only make £10,000 for the year it was published.
But even if you only make £15,000 a year that's just the base earning for that year.
There are hundreds of awards with thousands of pounds up for grabs, appearances, workshops, teaching positions, grants, fellowship and you'll get other writing opportunities. Plus there are options rights if you're lucky.
Writing a novel doesn't take up all of your time. If the novel itself is 60,000 words and you say do 3x that to write it you can get that done working three days a week.
There are lots of ways to make money writing if you have a bit of a reputation. Novels aren't the only way to write.
You won't make good money writing, but that's not the point. Some people will tell you it's hopeless, but that's fucking bullshit. If you are talented and work hard you won't have too much trouble getting published and making a liveable earning writing. But the key is that you have to work hard. Expect to not make any money the first few years (as you would with most careers) and to work full-time.
I get fucking sick of wannabe writers that don't even bother to write once a week. It's a career dipshits, not a hobby.
Started selling my ebooks on Amazon the Sunday before last.
Doing rather well, actually.
I'm not going to recommit to the KDP SELECT option tho. Prime users get your shit for free, and I didn't write it for it to be given away for free by people who are getting paid to make my shit available for their paying customers.
>>8144213
Agreed. All or nothing.
>>8142865
i'm a writer and my daily rate varies from 0 to about £550 per day although the higher end tends to be because i have some niche skills
Good thread
>>8144213
>In the UK you'll get like a £5-10,000 advance. You get 10% of sales. In the UK a really good yearly sales number is like 100,000 books. So if they sold on average for £7 you would get maybe £70,000.
You can live on that money for 10 years like a king or 20 years like a normal person in my country.
>>8144787
what country, though? would i even want to be king of your country?
>>8142882
Even AUTHORS from the past usually had jobs you fucking idiot. Sometimes you just gotta be realistic about things. Wanting to sit down and work all day sounds great but few people actually do it.
>>8144213
Great post, thanks for the insight. How much can, for example, make an average popular novel make, lets say a 300-500 page book?
>>8144213
I earn barely £13,000 a year full time now and support myself, so thats really not too bad
>>8142888
>The top 10%
>not super loaded.
Are you high?
The bottom 90% sure aren't, but you really think the top 10% aren't?
>>8142892
>all of the people who are famous for their art...and have something substantial to offer
lmao
Even calling it a "field of art" is hilariously retarded. Not even naive but retarded.
>>8142865
>Not talking about some meme lottery books like 50 shades of Grey
Thanks for the laugh.
Probably pretty hard though. You'd have to have some job while you write, and even if you get your work published, it isn't guaranteed you'll be able to keep writing books to publish.
>>8144171
KDP Select isn't free. Amazon will give you usually $1 per 200 pages read.
>>8145138
Oh shit. If that's true, I just earned a house payment. Thanks.
>>8142865
>getting into writing to make money
>>8142865
>How much money can someone realistically make with writing?
Writing grants? Journalism? Community stuff? Blogs? Laws?
There are more types of writing that just writing shitty fiction, you know.
College for writing is not a fucking meme. It's necessary unless you're a useless hack like McCarthy who catches wind of a publisher.
>>8145403
https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Heart-STAR-EPIC-Book-ebook/dp/B01G0TOU14
Senpai
>>8145444
That one review is from someone on here isn't it, I remember you posting the book in another thread. But shit man, nice that it's actually bringing in some money.
>>8145426
>Community stuff
>Laws
what exactly do you mean by these?
>>8145453
having to do your own marketing is time consuming when you're unsigned. Local support is up though. About to drop a few bucks to advertise in some magazines and I'm sending copies to key book reviewers. The hustle is real. If you want it done, you have to do it yourself.
>>8145405
I have written since a very young age, just never cared about publishing anything.
>>8142865
Art is not for money. You either have to sell out or git gud
