Writing and Money

Back when I was a youngster (well, more of a youngster than I am now), I had this funny idea that all authors were wealthy. I remember picking up books in the bookstore, and reading the author bio where it said something like:

Author X is also the author of Novel 1 and Novel 2. Her articles have appeared in Respected Lit Mag 1 and Respected Lit Mag 2, among others. She lives in Idyllic City.

I'd read that bio, look at the book and think, "Man, does Author X ever have it made. Maybe she's not frigging rolling in cash, but she must have plenty to live off."

Strangely, this idea was applied to virtually anyone whose name was on the cover of a book, everything from a contributor to the "For Dummies" series to the likes of King and Grisham. They had their names on the cover of a book, thus they were wealthy.

Even more strangely, this idea persists right up to this day, when I know much better than to expect that even 1% of all published authors can scrape together any kind of a living off their work. Of course, as Dan Green points out, the idea of the wealthy novelist is complete bunk. In fact, poverty is such a fact of a writer's life that it's hardly even worth noting.

Yet, still, I had the impression of, if not ridiculously rich, at least comfortably wealthy authors (enough so to not have to worry about cash while writing) for many, many years, and I suspect that the majority of people out there--who probably haven't given more than a moment's thought to how much novelists make--probably have the same impression I did.

Where the hell did we get this idea of the comfortably wealthy novelist socking away prose in some cabin somewhere?

Well, I don't know, but I do have some guesses (and I'd love to hear yours).

1. Hollywood. I don't know what it is about Hollywood movies but unless they're explicitly about office life, Hollywood movies never seem to depict people at work--authors (and artists) most definitely included. Really, I can't blame them since I don't watch movies to see people muddling through a workday, but I think it does create the impression that artists just sort of scurry around in between mixers and openings and long montages of them Making Art.

2. Celebrity culture. Hey, book tours are pretty popular, as are TV book clubs. Seems like turning authors into minor celebrities is a significant part of moving books these days. Somehow, when you see Author X being turned into a minor celebrity in an effort to move Serious Novel, they don't incorporate all the scraping that was necessary to get the book done (unless it was a highly inspirational story, but those always gloss over the details so that it still looks like a walk in the park). It's just like "Hey, you're on TV, your name's in the paper. You're a respected artist. You must be wealthy."

3. Cash advances. Everyone knows authors get advances from publishers, but there seem to be some pretty heavy misconceptions about exactly how large these advances are.

Comments

[steve]

What always gives me the impression of wealth isn't an author bio that reads, "She lives in Idyllic City," but rather, "She divides her time between Idyllic City and Edenic Pastoral Location."

[Pete]

Actually, "Novel 1" usually reads "Novel 1, a national bestseller." True, that bestseller list probably came under the heading of something like "Best Selling Fiction Based on 19th Century Ukrainian Immigrants", but it was still technically a bestseller none the less.

[Dave Munger]

One thing about advances: even a pretty sizeable advance really isn't much: after all, for a $100,000 advance, 15 percent goes straight to the agent. Another 7 percent goes to self-employment tax. So we're looking at about $80K, which, if it can be pulled off every year, puts a "famous" author in the same leagues as a bank manager, school administrator, or an entry-level accountant. Even a crummy lawyer makes more than $80K.

So even "successful" writers aren't doing well as mediocre middle-class office workers.

[Scott]

Good points all. Now that I think about it, when I've seen "National Bestseller" little dollar signs have formed in my head.

And, yes, "divides her time." That's the best. If I ever publish a book, my bio will say I divide my time.

[Lauren Baratz-Logsted]

Clearly I must be very successful since I divide my time between three places: my basement office, the main floor living room, and the upstairs bedroom.

[Dan Wickett]

Shouldn't that be four places? I think you forgot all that divided time you spent in Turkey researching for Thin Pink Line!

Enjoy,

[Michael Blowhard]

Great posting, tks. I once asked the head of the Authors Guild how many book authors in the country actually make a living from what they do. He said, if you exclude people who write computer manuals and such (not that there's anything wrong with that kind of work), probably fewer than a couple of hundred.

[Elizabeth Oness]

Plenty of writers get paid 10 or 20K for a novel and have been pretty relieved to have sold it at all. As to taxes, if a writer gets 100K for a book, then subtract 15% to the agent, subtract another 35% for state and federal taxes (depending on your bracket) and that last 7% is only SS tax. So taxes take a significant bite.

Contary to popular wisdom, some books that have done very well weren't originally sold for a lot of $$. I read somewhere that Edwidge Danticat first sold Breath Eyes Memory for 5K. I'm sure she commands much more now.

All this is to say that it's easy to imagine that writers are doing very well financially, but most just struggle along.. or they're partnered with someone who has a regular gig.