Author's salary?

Question

I know that there is no way to pinpoint an exact annual salary for an author, but my students are doing a project and one girl wants to know how much she would possibly make in 5 years if she wrote 5 informational books on dogs (so one book per year)....can anyone give me an idea?

Answer 1

Authors don't have a "salary" in the traditional sense of the word. They are paid royalties, based on the price of the book, their royalty rate (a percentage of the net price), and the number of books sold.

Let's say, just for ease, each of her books has a net price of $10.00 (this is the price that distibutors and bookstores pay for the book; it could be higher or lower, depending on lots of things--does the book have pictures in it, how long is it, how big is it, is it hardcover or paperback, etc.).

An average royalty rate is around 7% or so. Seven percent of $10 is: $0.70

For every book she sells, she'll be paid 70 cents.

It's safe to say she'd sell around 5,000 copies of each book. (We'll keep it simple and say that the books are not competing against each other, and that each book is equally good, and all the books have the same specifications, price, etc.). 5 books x 5000 copies = 25,000 books

25,000 books x $.70 = $17,500

Not exactly a humongous amount--especially over 5 years. But this is probably a fairly realistic picture of an author's income. This is why most authors also have a day job.

Your student can get more exact numbers by doing some research on the type of book she has in mind. By going to bookstores or Amazon, she can figure out how much a book like she's imaginging costs. Big chain stores like B&N and Amazon typically pay about 45% less for a book than the list price. Smaller independent stores will have a discount around 40%.

The 7% royalty rate is a safe bet. If her first book is successful, the next books might sell a few more copies as she becomes better known as an expert on dogs.

Sounds like an interesting project. I hope some of this was helpful. You or she can e-mail me through my YA profile, if you have more questions or something isn't clear.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Author's salary?
I know that there is no way to pinpoint an exact annual salary for an author, but my students are doing a project and one girl wants to know how much she would possibly make in 5 years if she wrote 5 informational books on dogs (so one book per year)....can anyone give me an idea?

Answer 3

It's hard to predict an Author's salary since they vary depending on so many factors. The amount your student may earn would depend on the publisher she chose to work with, how the books are marketed, and her sales over the 5 years.

If you'd like to compare more general figures for Author salaries, here is a link showing the median salary for a writer/Author in different U.S. states: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Writer_%2f_Author/Salary/by_State&src=yahooA And here's another showing median Author salaries by years of experience: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Writer_%2f_Author/Salary/by_Years_Experience&src=yahooA

To find more accurate salary data for the specific Author position your student is imagining, she can take PayScale's free salary survey and pretend to be an Author of informational books living in a certain area. http://www.payscale.com/?src=yahooA

Hope that helps,
Assistant to Dr. Salary

Answer 4

Author Pay Scale

Answer 5

Might as well close this question and choose Elissa's answer as the best one. Not going to get any better than that!

Answer 6

I think authors are like entrepreneurs. If their product (their book) is successful, they get lots of royalties. If not successful, they suffer. It can be very risky but can be very rewarding.