Monday, September 19, 2016

Show Me The Money!

A popular post from April 2012

Josi S. Kilpack

With tax day over and done, inquiring minds want to know what you made on your books last year. With an ever changing industry, there are more factors determining success than ever and yet, as always, money is that elephant in the room. We're all curious about how the other guy is doing, we're all setting goals and working toward them, but we hear very small bits of information and we're always a little nervous to just put our info out there when everyone else is nervous too. This is your chance to share your earnings anonymously so as to avoid anyone making judgements or hitting you up for a loan. Unpublished authors get to see what they can expect, and those of us who have published, get to see how we fit into the spectrum and how the money works between multiple markets and formats.

Here's what we're looking for in your comment:
  1. Choose "Anonymous" for your comment profile.
  2. State your GROSS royalty or advance income, stating which type it is.
  3. State whether this is from traditional publishing agreements or self-published works.
  4. State whether this is LDS specific or national market.
  5. State how many titles are included in this income statement.
  6. Share your personal thoughts if you like.
Here are some comment format examples:

$19,500--royalty
Traditional publishing
National market
2 titles. 

*It's been a good year for me, I'm happy with my sales and hopeful that 2012 will be even better


$1,200--royalty, self-published (Kindle only) 
National market
1 title.
AND
$3,500--royalty, traditional publishing
LDS market
3 titles (All at least two years old)


$125,000--advance, traditional publishing
National Market
One title--first of four series.

*Book won't be out until 2013, this is what I got after paying my agent but before taking out taxes. It's the first of three installments I expect over the next year assuming I can fix the plot holes my editor found.

So, those are the rules--thanks for taking the time to educate all of us! I've featured this a few other years on my personal blog. If you'd like to see previous years, click HERE.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

$1,100.00--royalty
traditonal publishing
LDS market--smaller publisher
5 books--all published more than five years ago.

Anonymous said...

$6100 - royalty
traditional publishing
LDS market - 2 publishers
10 books - some new, some since 2004
$50 Kindle - 3 ebooks

* Every check is a blessing, but I thought I'd be making more by now.

Anonymous said...

$5,536.00 - Royalties
Traditional Publishing
LDS market
1 Title

Anonymous said...

$37,000.00
Traditional publishing
LDS market
9 titles

Very happy with what I'm making in this market right now. It's been many years to get here.

Anonymous said...

Total earnings: $22,770

Breakdown:

Traditionally published book royalties: $8,700
(8 books over 10 years, LDS market)

Ebooks: $3,800

Other writing income (articles, freelance technical writing, etc.): About $10,000

Anonymous said...

$11,114--royalty in 2011 (one book release)
traditional publishing
LDS market
This was my 9th book

*My 2011 royalties were about half of my 2010 royalties, but I had 2 books out in 2010. So I'm looking forward to 2012 since I have more than one book coming out.

Anonymous said...

$800 Royalty in 2011
LDS Market
2 books.

Anonymous said...

$4,000 Royalty in 2011
LDS Market
2 books
Self Published

Anonymous said...

not yet $10, but more than $0 - royalty
Self-published
National market
Two titles

For six months, so do not doubt there are slow starters. Still, I'm not discouraged.

Anonymous said...

$1300 Royalty
LDS Market
1 book

Anonymous said...

$800 - Mostly in Dec, Indie published, 7 books
$100 - LDS market, 1 book, out for several years

The first six months were slow, then sales jumped in Dec. And I can hardly wait to post my 2012 Indie earnings next year because they've gone through the roof!

Anonymous said...

$60 ebook sales for my self published book that came out last spring,
$200 for paper book sales.

$120 for my traditionally published books (LDS market), all of which came out in 2009 and 2010.

My sales have greatly improved this year and I have a new traditionally published book, and some ebook releases this year, so the yearly totals are going to be much better.

Anonymous said...

$2,000.00
Traditional Publishing
LDS Market
1 Title (released late '11)

Anonymous said...

$355 royalty in 2011
Traditional publishing
LDS Market
1 Title

Anonymous said...

$1250
Traditional publishing
LDS Market
1 Title

Anonymous said...

$11,000
Traditional publishing
LDS market
2 books

Anonymous said...

$24,500 - Royalty
Traditional Publishing, 2 books out.
National Market
$5,000 - Advance
Traditional Publishing for book 3.

Anonymous said...

$62,700
Traditional
National and LDS
Advances and royalties

2012 should be about the same, but expecting a pretty big jump in 2013.

Anonymous said...

Average $900.00+ per month
Self published
Utah market only
1 title

Anonymous said...

$19,600 -- royalty
Traditional publishing
LDS market
9 titles (includes 2 new releases)

Anonymous said...

$1725 royalties
Indie published
National market
9 titles: mix of 3 print novels published in 2000s, and 9 ebooks since May 2011

New release in 2012 will boast earnings.

Anonymous said...

$2250--royalty
Traditional Publishing
LDS Market
2 titles (2009, 2010)

Anonymous said...

$12,000
self-published with eBooks
4 books

This year I'm on track to surpass that.