Writing Fiction: How to Make a Great Living

Writing Fiction: How to Make a Great Living

If you have always dreamed about making a living writing fiction, you should know that while plenty of variables come into play, it is possible with a solid plan and plenty of writing. Whether you are a published writer, an unpublished but dedicated author, or are just considering if writing fiction could be a career, learning what goes into making a living writing fiction can help you understand what you need to do to turn your stories into a viable living.

Can I Make Money Writing Fiction?

While it’s true that finding success in a creative field like writing fiction is part skill, part planning, part connections, and part luck, an aspiring author can up their chances of making money writing by looking at all of the aspects that build a successful writing career. One of those important aspects is considering how much you can reasonably make writing fiction books.

The factors that contribute to how much money you can earn by writing fiction books include publishing type, book retail cost, retail price of the book, and royalties. For a typical 300-page fiction book, authors can expect potential earnings for a book with a retail price of around $15. Authors who self-publish can earn up to a 60% royalty rate on each book sale and this could result in approximately $4.50 per book sold. Traditionally published books can earn up to 10% royalty on each book sale after the advance is paid, resulting in around $1.50 earnings per book to an author.

Pathways to Make Money Writing Fiction

There are three ways to publish a physical book: traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid publishing. For many years, the only way for an author to get their book published was to work with a traditional publishing house, making authorship out of reach for all but a few. But with the advent of on-demand printing, self-publishing, and hybrid-published authors are flourishing and growing in number every year.

Traditional Publishing

Working with a traditional publisher is the way many authors turn their writing into a book you can find on a retail shelf. Traditional publishers typically work with book agents who first vet an author, their writing fiction or their specific book and then pitch the book concept to the publishing house.

Once accepted, the traditional publisher will step in with experts like format, style or content editors, book designers and marketing specialists to take the book from concept to its final version. Books published traditionally will follow the timelines set by the publisher, and often a story goes through many revisions or transformations before it is printed and distributed to potential readers.

Why Authors Like Traditional Publishing

• Authors get paid upfront with traditionally published books. Called an advance, writers are contracted for a prepayment against the book’s potential sales. This advance can be a few thousand dollars for a new or untested author or many thousands more for a proven, bestselling author.
• Traditional publishers cover the costs associated with publishing a book. Traditional publishing houses may use a handful of editors, a design team and a marketing specialist to bring a book into publication, and they bear all of the costs of these experts. Authors benefit from the professional experience and knowledge these experts bring without having to dip into their pockets.
• Having a book published traditionally gives an author clout. Having your book’s spine imprinted with one of the names of the so-called “Big Five” publishing houses like Random House/Penguin, Macmillan or Harper Collins means your book will be forever associated with publishers that bring the majority of books to retail shelves. Even though there are hundreds of publishers along with many indie publishers, called for their independence from the larger houses and often unique author and genre focus, authors often seek out a partnership with a traditional publisher for the sway that connection can have with potential readers.

Why Traditional Publishing for Writing Fiction May Not Be for You

• Authors lose creative control of their work when they partner with a traditional publisher. Traditional publishers will rely on the expertise of their in-house professionals and authors agree to work with them even if it changes their original book concept’s outcome.
• The time it takes to bring a book through the traditional publishing process is very lengthy. It may take months or years to edit, revise, publish and release a book when working with a traditional publisher.
• Authors most likely won’t earn much if any royalty payments beyond the initial payment for their book. For most authors, book sales may not be hearty enough to surpass the initial advance payment, so often the book advance is all or the majority of the money earned for writing fiction unless it becomes a big hit.
• Getting traditionally published is difficult and even great writers are not offered the chance. The query process of finding a book agent interested in your work can be hard, and not all authors find an agent and then an interested publisher to take on their writing.

Self-publishing for Writing Fiction

Authors who want to ensure that their writing makes it onto the printed page more and more choose to self-publish. This publishing pathway means that the author takes on all responsibilities for bringing the book to print, including the writing, editing, designing, printing and book distribution. But writers who go this route often partner with experts to help them refine or design their book sometimes as well.

Why Authors Love Self-Publishing for Writing Fiction

• Authors retain complete creative control. Unlike traditional publishing, self-publishing allows an author to make every decision about the book’s contents, how the book looks and how the book is marketed and sold.
• All authors can self-publish their work. There is no gateway barrier to self-publishing since all writers can choose to publish their work.
• Each author decides how to promote and manage their book.
• Self-publishing can be a very quick process. Authors can take their book from concept to print in a much shorter timeframe, sometimes weeks, instead of the months it takes with traditional publishing.
• Royalties are much higher than traditional publishing as book sales are not split between a big publisher and the professional team that worked with the book.

Why Self-Publishing for Writing Fiction Can Be a Challenge

• Authors are responsible for the financials upfront. Having the budget to pay for perceived “extras” like editing, book or cover design, and printing costs can be challenging for some writers.
• Self-publishing authors get paid on book sales only. With no publishing contract, book advances are not part of the self-publishing book payouts, but since royalties can be much higher with this type of publishing, many authors feel like this negative is not a deal killer.
• Since it’s easier to self-publish a book, a stigma around it still exists. Even though there are no barriers to entry into this market, the number of authors who self-publish their work is still small compared to traditional book publications.

Hybrid Publishing for Writing Fiction

Why Some Authors Opt for Hybrid

• It’s the best of both publishing worlds. Authors can choose to bring their books to their readers at any time while also working with a publishing company when it makes sense.
• Authors can retain creative control over self-published books while still benefiting from the clout that comes with traditional publishing. Many well-known authors like Stephen King, E.L. James and William Blake worked with publishers and self-published their work.

Steps You Can Take to Make a Living Writing Fiction

1. Learn all about the industry of writing fiction.

Connect with other writers at writing events, over social media and through others to find out about their experience writing fiction for a living. Make an effort to learn as much as you can about the fiction books you plan to focus on by researching your genre to see what is working and popular right now with readers.

2. Build your brand.

To become a successful fiction writer, readers need to be exposed to you and your brand as well as your writing. Create an author website to showcase your author brand that includes appealing genre information, book content to tease readers about upcoming projects and content about the writing craft so readers can learn about you. Use the site to connect with your fans, sell books and give readers a glimpse into you as a writer as well.

Another big step is to get active on social media. Create handles with your name, your book titles or even create one for a popular character. Create content that engages readers, potential readers and the literary community in print and in video form.

Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are hot spots for the literary community, so creating a page on Bookstagram that appeals to the aesthetic side of your genre or videos on BookTok where you can read or present pages of your writing, host live events or create videos that connect with your audience are all important parts of building your brand as an author.

3. Write as much as you can.

Pen to paper, creating as much as you can regularly will help you turn out books frequently. Publishing at least a book a year is a good goal for an author hoping to make a living writing fiction, but some authors write two or more a year, depending on the publication format they use.

4. Connect with those in the literary world.

Make connections with those who work in the business, whether you will need their services or not, so you can stay on the inside track of what is happening within your business. Seek out connections with agents, other authors, designers, editors, publishers, readers, reviewers and booksellers.

5. Lean on professionals and experts.

No author can do everything perfectly by themselves, so knowing when to seek expert advice can help you create the best possible book for your readers. Engaging a book cover designer, working with a trusted printer like Publishing Xpress or using the services of a book editor so your final manuscript looks perfect before you send it off to the printer are priceless investments that your readers will appreciate.