February 10th, 2005

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Books
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The Book Industry is Small and Cruel

Via Boing Boing, here’s a survey of science-fiction writers on their income:

The typical advance for a first novel is $5000. The typical advance for later novels, after a typical number of 5-7 years and 5-7 books is $12,500. Having an agent at any point increases your advance. There is some slight correlation between number of books and number of years spent writing as represented in the 5-12.5 thousand dollar advance shift of an average of 5-7 years.

As I understand it, 5000 books is a typical first print run for all but the most popular novelists. I was recently talking to somebody who worked at a largish Canadian publisher. She reminded me that, to have a ‘best seller’ in Canada, you have to sell 5000 books. Just 5000! It seems to me that the publishing industry gets far too much attention for numbers like those. I know the long tail applies, but it was a reminder of how few novelists really profit from their work.

Comments: 5 Responses so far

alexis
February 10th, 2005
1:41 pm

Just proof that you don’t do anything in the book industry if your goal is to have lots and lots of money.

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Andrea
February 10th, 2005
3:36 pm

When I was working for the government, I worked with a guy who’d written three books. Two of them sold about 300 copies each. The third was a Canadian best-seller with 3000 copies — and that was a non-fiction book about Morningside or some other popular CBC Radio show (I forget which one). He said he made about $8,000 from the CBC book.

In comparison, a friend of mine sold a romance novel to Silhouette for $100,000.

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joann
February 10th, 2005
9:44 pm

I noticed you mentioned “Just 5000″. That’s a lot in Canada. :)

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Maktaaq
February 10th, 2005
10:23 pm

Your title reminded me of this.

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James Sherrett
February 11th, 2005
5:43 pm

Ah, reality awakens and shucks off its pajamas - another day, another dollar. “No one ever explains to you the economic realities of being a writer as you’re training to be a writer,” I have said for the past two years in my presentation to the Masters of Publishing students at SFU. And I mean it.

Case study: a Canadian bestseller sells 5,000 copies. The author receives a royaltly of 10 percent, or between $2 and $4 (if the price point is $20 or $40, about where most price points are for softcover and hardcovers, respectively). Therefore gross income from a book is $10,000 to $20,000. This is, of course, before taxes. Most books take a few years. Most books are not bestsellers. Most books are lucky to sell 2,000 copies.

Key takeaway: an author cannot make a living from their writing in Canada without supplementing it with: (1) teaching work, (2) freelance writing, (3) a Day Job, (4) grants, such as those from the Canada Council. Writers who do make a living from their writing in Canada do so because they are able to sell foreign rights, particularly U.S. rights and U.K. rights.

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