Published Doesn’t Mean Paid.
I want to talk about money.
(Ugh, I know. How crass.)
Specifically, how much money authors make, or more accurately, don’t.
I signed my publishing deal in 2023. My advance was £2,500. That’s it.
I was paid £1,250 on signing, which, spread over 18 months (writing and editing), works out at £69 a month. I’ll receive the remaining £1,250 when the book is published this August. And unless the book sells extremely well, that’s likely all I’ll ever get.
For context: many debut books, especially by women, sell somewhere between 500 and 2,000 copies.
Royalties are paid on the retail price. I receive:
- 10% on hardbacks up to 5,000 copies
- 12% on hardbacks after 5,000
- 8% on paperbacks up to 10,000 copies
- 10% on paperbacks after 10,000
So for a £15 hardback, I get £1.50 per copy, if it’s sold at full price. Most aren’t, my book, not even out yet, is already discounted in many places online. In reality, the royalty is often closer to £1. Sometimes less.
For an £8.99 paperback, 8% works out to about 72p per copy, again assuming full price. If it’s discounted, that drops even further.
Even if my book sells 3,000 hardbacks and 5,000 paperbacks, which would be considered a huge success for a debut from a small press, I might earn only a couple of thousand pounds above my original advance. Total. Spread over two and a half years of writing, editing, publicity, and emotional labour, that’s well below minimum wage.
And this is not unusual. This is how publishing works for the vast majority of authors, especially those who are working-class, disabled, chronically ill, or parenting without much support. In fact, as far as I know, my deal is better than average.
The idea that being published means you’re suddenly secure or successful? That’s a myth. Most authors have day jobs. Many are burning out quietly. Many rely on partners, family, or the distant hope that one day, they’ll see a photograph of a painting of someone else’s royalty cheque.
Even hitting something like the Sunday Times bestseller list, which sounds huge, doesn’t necessarily mean big earnings. It takes around 2,000-3,000 hardback copies sold in a single week to chart. Very few books reach that number. Most don’t come close. And even if you do make the list, the financial return can be underwhelming.
Why? Because many of those sales are heavily discounted, through supermarkets, Amazon, or special promotions. Most publishing contracts include clauses that reduce your royalty when the discount is steep. Which means that for a 2,000-copy bestseller week, an author might only make a few hundred pounds.
And that prestigious status rarely lasts. For most books, it’s a spike not a plateau. They hit the list for one week, then disappear. Even “bestselling” authors often only see those numbers once.
So yes, being a bestseller looks great. It’s validating, exciting, and it helps visibility. But it doesn’t necessarily mean the author gets paid well. Not even close.
I’m sharing this because most people have no idea. They see a book on a shelf and assume the author is doing just fine, secure, paid, successful. They don’t see the unpaid hours, the exhaustion, the reality that most authors earn less than minimum wage for years of work.
So I’m here to say: support authors with your full weight.
Pre-order the book.
Buy it from your local bookshop if you can.
Share it on social media. Talk about it. Request it at the library.
Leave a review. Recommend it to your friends.
Sign up to their newsletter. Send a kind message.
These things help more than you know.
Most authors are not rich, connected, or cushioned. We write because it matters and because we believe it might matter to you too.
Just know, behind every cover is a person who probably didn’t get paid properly.
And who is still showing up.