Can You REALLY Make a Living as a Novelist?

Plan for Success

Photo by Lucien Openge on Unsplash

So, you want to be a full-time novelist. You get to quit the 9-to-5, tell incredible stories, create entire worlds, and pay your bills with nothing but your imagination. It’s the dream, right? It was my dream, and in many respects it still is—especially being able to pay my bills with my writing.

My goal is always to encourage you. It IS possible to make a living writing, but I also want to give you accurate information so you can plan appropriately.

According to recent industry surveys, the median income for full-time authors is only around $20,000 a year. Yeah. That number is a brutal wake-up call. It’s the financial brick wall that stands between the dream of being a writer and the reality of a writing career.

So, though I’m not here to crush your dreams—I want to arm you with the truth. I’m going to break down the real numbers: the advances, the royalties, the insane time investment, and the strategies that can actually lead to a sustainable career. The big question is, can you REALLY make a living as a novelist today? Here’s the truth.

The Sobering Reality of Author Income

Before we talk about how to make a living, we have to get painfully honest about what most authors earn. The publishing world is often called a "winner-takes-all" market. This means a tiny percentage of authors at the very top are earning millions, while the vast majority… aren’t. Although you might have heard of the mid-list authors, there’s not much of a middle class anymore.

Let's start with the path everyone knows: traditional publishing. This is where you land a literary agent, and they sell your masterpiece to a publishing house. Your first paycheck from this deal is called an advance. Think of it as a loan (that you get to keep) the publisher gives you against your book's future earnings. They're betting your book will sell enough to pay them back.

For a debut author, an advance can be anything from $5,000 to $50,000. Now, while some surveys show an “average” advance for major deals as high as $57,000, that number is seriously misleading because it's skewed by a few huge deals. The median advance—a much more realistic number for most authors— in 2025, is approximately $5,000 to $10,000.

But let's take the higher $10,000 figure, which sounds okay. Well, first, your agent takes their 15% commission. Now you’re at $8,500. Then, that advance is usually split into three or more payments—one when you sign, one when you deliver the final manuscript, and one on publication day, a process that can easily take two years. Suddenly, that $8,500 is spread over 24 months, which works out to $324.16 a month. Before taxes.

And here’s the kicker: you won’t see another dime from book sales until you "earn out" that entire advance. That means your share of the sales has to pay back every single penny the publisher gave you.

So, how much do you earn from those sales? Those are your royalties. For a traditionally published book, royalty rates are surprisingly low. You can expect around 10-15% on hardcovers, maybe 5-8% on paperbacks, and about 25% of the publisher's net receipts for ebooks.

Hmm, let that sink in. If your hardcover book costs $28, you might earn just $2.80 per copy. To earn back a modest $10,000 advance, you'd have to sell about 3600 hardcover copies. That might seem doable, until you hear this jaw-dropping statistic that came out of the Penguin Random House antitrust trial: of the 3.2 million books tracked, fewer than 1% sold more than 5,000 copies. For most authors, the advance is the only money they ever see from their book.

For self-published authors, the numbers are different. Their median income from books is often a bit higher, but they have to pay for everything themselves—editing, cover design, marketing, formatting—which can cost thousands of dollars before a single copy is sold. They keep a much bigger slice of the pie, often up to 70% in royalties, but the entire weight of selling the book is on their shoulders.

So, what's the takeaway here? A single book is almost never a winning lottery ticket. It’s a building block—and usually, a pretty small one.

The Path Forward - 5 Strategies for Financial Success

Okay, so the numbers look… grim. If you’re feeling a little panicked right now and reevaluating whether you want to continue writing, just breathe. Understanding the reality is the first step to building an actual, sustainable career. It is possible, but you have to stop thinking like a starving artist and start thinking like an entrepreneur. Here are five strategies successful authors use to actually make a living.

Strategy 1: Treat It Like a Business

This is the biggest—and I mean biggest—mindset shift you have to make. I’ve talked about this many times, and at conferences during Q&A sessions when I’m asked about how to succeed as an author; this is my #1 advice. Writing is an art, but publishing is a business. You're not just a writer; you're the CEO of You, Inc. This means getting strategic. You need to understand your market, your genre, and your readers. You have to learn about contracts, intellectual property, and marketing. Successful authors don't just write a great book; they build a brand. They invest time learning the business side, or they hire people to help. They set goals, track their finances, and make calculated career decisions. It’s not just about waiting for inspiration to strike at 2 a.m. It’s about showing up consistently and doing the work—both the creative stuff and the commercial stuff.

Strategy 2: The Power of a Backlist

One book is a fluke. Two books are a coincidence. Three books are the beginning of a career. It is incredibly rare for an author to make a living from one novel. It has to hit the market just right and become a sensation. The real money in writing comes from building a backlist—a portfolio of books that keep selling, year after year. Every new book you release isn't just a new source of income; it's an advertisement for everything you've ever written. Readers who love your new book will often go back and buy your entire catalog.

This is especially true for self-published authors, where a deep backlist can create a stable, predictable income stream. Some indie authors earning six figures have dozens of books out. It’s a long game that demands consistent output over many years. But every book you add to your library is another asset, another stream of income. Enough streams, and you've got a river.

If you're finding this breakdown of the author business useful and want more practical advice for your writing journey, do me a favor and hit that subscribe button and the notification bell. This channel is all about giving you the real, actionable information you need to build a career, and I'd love for you to be a part of this community.

Strategy 3: Diversify Your Income Streams

Relying only on book sales is like trying to balance on one leg—it's wobbly and unstable. The highest-earning authors almost never get all their money from one place. They build multiple streams of income around their writing. Your book isn’t just a book; it’s intellectual property.

Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

Audiobooks: This market is exploding. You can earn royalties through your publisher or by producing them yourself.

Foreign Rights: Selling the rights to publish your book in other languages and countries can become a major income source. There are services like Dropcap marketplace who search for foreign rights buyers for you.

Film and TV Deals: It's the big dream, of course, and a long shot, but it does happen. Licensing your story for an adaptation can be life-changing. I sold my film writes for my novel Becoming Latina in 10 Easy Steps.

Speaking and Teaching: Get paid to speak at conferences, libraries, and book festivals. You can also teach writing workshops, either online or in person if you enjoy sharing what you’ve learned.

Patreon or Memberships: Offer your superfans exclusive content—like bonus chapters, early access to new material, or live Q&As—in exchange for a monthly subscription.

Freelance Writing & Services: Many authors supplement their income with editing, ghostwriting, or copywriting. Your skills as a writer are valuable in many fields.

Merchandise: Depending on your genre, you could sell things related to your books, like maps, art prints, or t-shirts. I met a children’s book author who sells a doll to go with her book.

The key is to think like an entrepreneur about how to leverage your stories and expertise beyond just selling the book itself.

Strategy 4: Master Your Publishing Path

There is no single "best" way to publish a book. Traditional, indie, and hybrid publishing all have financial pros and cons. The right choice depends on your goals, your personality, and your book.

Traditional Publishing gives you the benefit of the publisher's resources—distribution, marketing support, and the prestige of a well-known imprint. That advance offers guaranteed money, but you give up a lot of control and a huge chunk of your royalties.

Self-Publishing gives you total creative control and much higher royalty rates. But you’re on the hook for every single cost and all the marketing. It takes a serious entrepreneurial spirit.

Many of today's most successful authors actually use a hybrid approach. They might traditionally publish their big, ambitious novels, but self-publish side projects or novellas. By understanding the financial model of each path, you can make strategic decisions that maximize your income over the long haul.

Strategy 5: Build Your Platform Relentlessly

Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published, one thing is non-negotiable today: you are in charge of your own marketing. The days of a publisher handling all the promotion are long gone. You have to build a direct connection with your readers through an author platform.

This platform should include a professional website, a mailing list, and a social media presence. Of all these tools, your email list is pure gold. It’s a direct line to your readers that you own and control, no algorithm involved. These are the people who love your work and who are most likely to support you. You can use it to announce new books, run special promotions, and build a loyal community of fans.

Building a platform is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time and consistent effort, but it's the engine that will drive your sales and open the door to all those other income opportunities we talked about. It's how you turn a casual reader into a lifelong fan who will support your entire career.

So, Can You Make a Living as a Novelist?

The answer is yes… but.

Yes, but it rarely looks like the romantic dream we all have in our heads. It’s not about writing one perfect novel and then retiring to a quiet cabin in the woods. For almost every successful author out there, making a living is the result of years of consistent hard work, smart business planning, and a whole lot of hustle.

It's about writing many books, not just one. It’s about building a business, not just creating art. And it's about diversifying your income so that you aren't at the mercy of the wild, unpredictable swings of the book market. Those median income stats are scary, but they don’t tell the whole story. They don't account for the author who has methodically built a backlist of 20 books, or the one who makes half their income from teaching.

The path is hard; I won’t lie. It demands incredible patience and resilience. But it is not impossible.

I remember sitting at a workshop where a midlist author shared how only 10% of writers ever make it and only 3% make money in the business, and the only thought in my head was, “Well, you did it. Why can’t I?” If you are willing to embrace the business of writing, to be strategic, to be persistent, and to play the long game, you can absolutely build a career where your words pay your bills. You just have to be willing to work for the reality, not just the dream.

What's your biggest question or fear about the financial side of being an author? Drop it in the comments below—I’d love to talk about it. Thanks for reading.

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