There are over 45,860 writers in the United States (as of 2019) [publishingperspectives.com] with 1% or less traditionally published. Of the rest, self-published or hybrid published, 77% of self-published authors make $9000 a year. Only 0.7% of self-published authors make over $100,000 a year.
The average age of writers is 42.9 years [database.io], so don’t fret if you see the year adding on.
Amazon.com offers over 2 million books. Most Amazon authors will not make more than $500 per month [youngdumbandnotbroke.com], with most first-time authors selling 250 copies or less. [medium.com].
So what’s the secret to beating the odds? How can you, a self-published author, compete in a vast market with the odds skewed against you?
The reason self-publishing is so huge an industry is that it makes it easy for any writer to publish any work at little to no cost and be able to claim the monicker of being a published author. The problem begins with that premise. “95% of these books are insufferable.” [goodreader.com].
When you can write quickly, fail to do so in a pleasing manner, or grammatically flawed, spelling errors, poor formatting, bypass the editing and proofing cycles that are invaluable to producing a quality product, utilize the Amazon ‘Create-A-Cover’ using basic templates, you can handle it all with no effort, and join the ranks of the 45,860 authors cited above.
The only problem is you are not a valid author. You are a sloppy author, enamored with the idea of writing, perhaps with illusions of celebrity reactions from adoring fans. After all, JK Rowling write at her kitchen table and whipped out the ‘Harry Potter’ series of bestselling books.
If you research JK Rowling and discover the massive work that went into the creation, plotting, multiple drafts, edits, proofing involved in each book before it could be published, it quickly becomes apparent that not only was it incredibly difficult to complete, but she handled it professionally from the start.
All the lousy books on Amazon hurt the visibility of those books worthy of a look. And if you expect to make a living from your writing, you are starting with a false expectation. Writing is a passion for most authors–they enjoy telling a wonderful story that, if they do their job, is well crafted and grabs the reader. Most authors have other income sources whether side jobs, or perhaps freelancing writing in other forms (copywriting, speeches, ghost-writing, resumes, teaching….)
Assuming you did your due diligence, crafted a solid novel, edited and proofed, created a decent cover, obtained some reviews (beyond friends and family), there are many things you can do to amplify your visibility and sales. I will cover these in another post.
Can you afford to be a writer? The correct answer is that it is the wrong question. The correct question should be “Can you imagine not being a writer?”
~William
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