The Reality of a Writer's Income

Writers love what they do and gladly put countless hours of time into their craft, but their typical level of income will surprise most readers.

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What I read: “Making a living by writing is as rare as being a billionaire” by Erik Hoel. Posted May 28, 2024.

There is likely a widespread assumption that a large percentage of book authors make a good living from those books. That is a fantasy propped up in part by book authors themselves who often have other means of income not referenced when they discuss their books and by the general cultural ethos that wants to believe a relatively monumental effort such as writing a book is suitably rewarded.

If only that were true.

For when it comes to certain creative fields, while there are other tangential options than simply becoming very famous (like working for a non-profit, or teaching creative writing at a university) there is an incredibly steep, punishingly steep, impossibly steep, beyond-Pareto-distribution-steep curve wherein only a vanishingly small fraction of people make a living via their artistic efforts alone.

Most of us who have written books do so realizing it's not a big money-making proposition. We do it for other reasons. Sure, we hope we make some money from our endeavors. But without tangential revenue streams or entirely unrelated income coming in, most book authors could not pay the bills.

I’ve always had a job other than writing until I left corporate life in late 2022. I chose to work various jobs throughout my life while I wrote. Most of my best paid writing has been freelance gigs or paid newsletters, with my many years working as a software technical writer being the standout way I made money with my writing skills. Technical writing has historically been the best paid job for a writer although you admittedly should have some deep technical knowledge to do it well.

Erik Hoel’s post offers an interesting comparison between making a good living as a writer and becoming a billionaire. I’d suggest his data and math are solid, but even if other data and calculations might be used, the result is about the same. Most writers don’t make enough money to live on. They must supplement their income in some other way.

Hoel’s assessment is specifically about book authors. But writers can make money many other ways. Freelance writing for hire. Magazine, blog, and website articles. Copywriting. Ghostwriting. Scriptwriting. The aforementioned technical writing.

People also often write to promote their main source of income. For example, a financial advisor might write a book about financial planning, realizing its main use will be as a form of advertising to point readers to their services. It’s often been said that a book is a professional’s best business card.

The Author’s Guild published reliable author income data in their “Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey” and it’s sobering for those not familiar with the inside world of authoring books.

The median author income for full-time authors from their books was $10,000 in 2022, and their total median earnings from their book and other author-related income combined was $20,000. Book income includes advances, royalties, and fees from licensing and subsidiary rights. Other author-related income includes work such as editing, blogging, teaching, speaking, book coaching, copy writing and journalism.

When looking at full-time authors whose books are in commercial markets (i.e, excluding academic, scholarly, and educational books), the median book income was $15,000 and median author-related income was $25,000.

This means half of all full-time authors continue to earn below minimum wage in many states from all their writing related work, and well below the federal minimum wage of just $7.25/hour from their books. It also tells us that most authors are earning half of their writing-related income from sources other than their books.

The median book income for all authors (including those who write part-time) who completed the survey (80 percent of whom consider themselves professional authors, but only 35 percent of whom considered themselves full time), was just $2,000 for 2022, and the median total writing-related income was $5,000.

This is not to dissuade people from being writers. After all, for most of us writers, writing isn’t just about making money. In “Writing Helps You Think,” I make the argument that writing is one of the best ways to learn and organize one’s thoughts.

One of the ways I think is through writing. Writing the words that articulate what’s banging around in my brain helps turn that chaos into something coherent and meaningful.

Plus, there’s the sheer joy of writing that many of us enjoy. I find wrestling with placing one word after another to make a coherent sentence and subsequent paragraphs to inform, inspire, or entertain to be an incredibly joyful activity.

Regarding book authors, Hoel’s post concludes with this reality check.

Meaning that if we eyeball it using our thumbs for comparison, we can say that for people born in America there are about as many slots available to be self-made billionaires as there are for being writers who merely make a living via their books.

Writing is a craft but it’s also an art. If we consider the larger world of artists generally, most of them don’t make enough from their art to live on either. In the “Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023” report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in which they report on incomes from fine artists including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, you’ll notice somewhat better but similarly bleak statistics.

If we broaden the field of writing to that of content creator, since the written word is indeed a form of content that is created, the numbers are likely similar. Most of the self-employed social media and video creators you see don’t make a lot of money from their efforts. It takes extremely hard work to build and sustain a content creation business to bring in enough money to pay all the bills. I think some people would be shocked at exactly how much effort that takes.

Arriving at hard data to calculate what the average content creator makes is difficult, but I know enough of them to know that for most of them it’s not the big bucks. Even in a relatively high profit area like Only Fans and Just for Fans adult content creation, for most of them it’s a side hustle and not their main source of income. And just like for other content creation, you’d be surprised how much time and work goes into creating that content too.

If you want to be a writer, artist, or content creator, please do so. The rewards are significant even if not all of them are financial. Just go into it with your eyes wide open and informed.

So, this is where I give you the pitch again to support my work with a paid subscription or patron support if you can. I’m lucky enough to have other sources of income that allow me to keep most of my writing available for everyone to read, but the extra money sure does help me continue to do that.

You can use this link to access all my writings and social media. My content is usually open and free to all to view, but for those who are able your paid subscription (click the Subscribe button) or patron support is always appreciated.