Skip to main content

Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Self-Published Author

MercyInReach wrote:
Abigail_Austin wrote:
MercyInReach wrote:

I'm comfortable sharing yearly royalty numbers for the last 3 years if it's desired but I'll leave that out for now.


Hi, Mercy. I, for one, am curious to know the yearly royalty numbers only to see if it's something that I should someday maybe try to get into if I have the time to really get good at writing (as you sure are). Thanks for all this illuminating info about how it all works!

Hello! I will say that my numbers differ vastly from many other authors I know. I have friends who have been publishing longer but make less than me and friends who have been publishing only in the last year and make more than me. There are so many factors that determine how much money you make as an author, but a big one is just...luck. So, I wouldn't let my numbers or any numbers really, determine if you should write and publish books. You'll never know how much income you could make, until you do. :)

Nevertheless, here are the numbers (before taxes).

2021: $47.23
2022: $387.61
2023: $788.63

My goal has been to double my royalties every year and so far I've done that!

Thank you, Mercy, those are all good points that I'll take into consideration. And I find the numbers to be quite encouraging in my mental scheme of things. Thanks. And also I'm happy for you, congrats.

You are on: Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Self-Published Author

Moderators: Mina, Keke, Cass, Claine, Sanne, Dragonfire, Ilmarinen, Darth_Angelus