Ask the CIA: How much can I earn writing novels?
I’m still drafting my first novel, but I see all these inspiring posts online where people are earning $5,000 a month, on up to $50,000 a month. How can they do that? Do they do a lot of advertising? If so, how much do they keep? And what about expenses for editors, cover artists, and formatting?
The answer depends on many variables. A cover could range from free to $500 and up. Editing costs depend on whether you want developmental, copy editing, or both. Formatting a book could be free if you DIY, or more.
Then there’s advertising, and that depends on how good you are at it and if you’re using BookBub ads, Amazon, or Facebook. I’ve seen percentages of that from zero to 35% for successful authors.
There’s also this to consider: a great many authors pump out books, as fast as once a month. They’ve figured out the genre they’re working in, how many words to write, and are highly organized. Think of them as the Campbell Soups of the business. For their income, they’re relying on attracting a whale reader to book #1, and hoping they’ll go on to #2, #3, #4, etc. Their books are in Kindle Unlimited, and they can afford to spend more money on popular keywords, hoping to make it up in page reads.
Mark Dawson is a good example of this strategy with his 20-book-plus John Milton series (except for the writing-a-book-a-month bit; he takes more time). It also helps his bottom line that he also writes books of a high enough quality to attract a publisher for his print books, and runs the Self Publishing Formula podcast and teaching business (both highly recommended).
There are many profitable writers who can duplicate his success. Their books are good enough to attract readers. Some of them may become fans. Many, however, will not. They’ll go on to other books in the genre and they may or may not return.
Then there are the ones whose soup isn’t of Campbell’s quality. They’re supermarket house brands. We’ve seen plenty of posts from them as well.
So to answer how much money can I make writing novels, the answer depends on how well you do will depend on the quality of your storytelling, your marketing and promotional strategies, your alliances, and your luck.