Written Word Media Survey

[R. C.]

Interesting data, limited conclusions.  Written Word Media

Roger

[Post-Crisis D]

Unless I missed it, I don't see where they indicated whether the monthly income amounts were gross or net.  Conceivably, someone could be grossing $10,000 per month but if they are spending $9,000 per month on marketing, covers, editing, etc., they're only netting $1,000 per month.  An important distinction.

[Bill Hiatt]

You didn't miss it--there's no indication whether the figures indicate gross or net. If it wasn't specified on the survey, my guess is that the data is probably somewhat mixed. However, the intent was probably net. Otherwise, the bottom number would go below zero. (It is possible to spend more than you make initially.)

As far as the conclusions one might draw are concerned, some of them are common sense. If you can put in more time, you will on average make more money. If you have a large back list, you will make more money.

Authors making more money are more likely to use professional editors and cover designers--which could in turn make them more money if it helps them create better books.

Authors who persist are more likely to be successful.

Success is possible whether you're wide or in KU. (Well, maybe that isn't common sense, since it's been widely debated over the years.)

One thing I would add for newbies--correlation does not equal causation. For example, you could read this and think that having audio books will increase your income. I think this is only true if you already have good sales to begin with. In other words, audiobooks are more a mark of success than a gateway to it.

[Post-Crisis D]

If you have a large back list, you will make more money.

That may be true for series, but, in my experience, if you don't have a series, which I don't, then a larger back list makes no difference.  The more books I release, the more my income goes down.

[alhawke]

If you have a large back list, you will make more money.

That may be true for series, but, in my experience, if you don't have a series, which I don't, then a larger back list makes no difference.  The more books I release, the more my income goes down.

Yeah, there's some truth into this. It's rare that I get cross sales during a promotion.

Series is the way. And more, more, more books. According to the study, you need to write around 20 to really start making money, not a living, but money I read that Michael Anderle, when he began, thought he could finally make a living after 17 releases. That's how things have changed in the Biz. Michael Anderle was talking about a living. Written Word Media is talking about a few thousand a month--still below the poverty level. So, keep your day job folks. And write, write, write (can you sense a bit of bitterness from me? Yep. But I'll keep writing anyway cause I, fortunately or unfortunately, I love the craft. I bet most of us are cursed with that).

[cecilia_writer]

I have over 40 books and am nowhere near making a living (most of them are rated quite highly, in case it sounds as if I've been churning out nonsense!). Fortunately I don't exactly need to make a living from writing, so I can do it the way I want. It was much easier to have good sales and get into various top 100s, in the UK at least, when I started out, and I used to imagine I only had to write a few more books then I'd be able to write full-time, bit it never worked out like that! My only regret is that I stayed in my day job for so long before retiring, as I am enjoying my writing very much more now that I can do it whenever I want.

[Crystal]

I have noticed that income does not increase with backlist, past a certain size. Even with backlist divided into related series. (I have over two books in the format: Series, spin off, loosely related spin off, closely related spin off).

I suspect the average reader only wants to read a certain amount of books from an author before she moves onto another. Certainly, there are readers who dive into an entire catalog, but they are rare, and they often take quite some time to move through the books.

IME, backlist income does skew KU, as there's less friction for those readers, but the best way to get KU readers into the backlist is still new releases... but only if they hit a rank that gives you enough visibility to gain new to you readers (which is highly dependent on genre and author career).

At the moment, I have FB ads running to three US series. I don't directly send people to those first two series in the spin off chart except with occasional free runs & minimal AMS. I still get sales on those books, but the sales drop every year.

Again, depends on genre and a bunch of other factors, but I find two contradictory things with a large backlist (35 ish books in my case):

1) older series don't sell unless they have direct visibility, whether it's through backmatter in books with visibility, AMS, free runs, FB ads, BookBub, etc.

2) I can easily make a profit on modest backlist ads... across my catalog, as long as I advertise a reasonably marketable series. I might only break even on a $50/day ad to book one... maybe I only break even on the first two books of the five book series. But I make a profit on 3-5, and there's enough of a trickle I double that profit across the related books. It's not huge money, but it is enough to sustain me without a new release (or a new release that hits big).

All promotional tactics fade with time. So it helps to have multiple commercial series and to alternate tactics (run FB ads to series A for six months, then switch to series B; discount one series starter each quarter; etc). And of course you can rebrand a commercial series when it starts to fade. That tends to attract some new readers. (But that also has diminishing returns at some point).

[cecilia_writer]

I have readers who are constantly waiting for the next book in my longest-running series (25 and counting) and certainly i see bump in sales when there's a new one in that series, though having said that, they are quite niche books, not quite cosy mystery, so the readership has never been massive. I've tried a few other series but without a similar take-up. Just about to try what I think will be a new series starter.

[alhawke]

What about audio? They do seem to push audio in the article.

Does any of you see cross sales from series via audio? An advantage I thought of with audio is I can just advertise the initial book and some audio sales could follow? I find paperback and hardback series fairly limited in that way--I mean, that was the original idea for me regarding handheld books (aside from holding my own books in my hands  ).

[She-la-te-da]

audiobooks are more a mark of success than a gateway to it

I see posts on other forums all the time asking how to afford audio, from people who've barely managed to upload one book (often a short story). I tell them not to bother, they won't make any money from it. Wait until there are a few books selling, then worry about print and audio.

I hate these kinds of surveys. The info ends up being mostly useless, because the questions are too vague, or don't cover the right topics. People end up thinking they are going to be the next big thing, without any knowledge of writing, much less how to sell books.

[Bill Hiatt]

What about audio? They do seem to push audio in the article.

Does any of you see cross sales from series via audio? An advantage I thought of with audio is I can just advertise the initial book and some audio sales could follow? I find paperback and hardback series fairly limited in that way--I mean, that was the original idea for me regarding handheld books (aside from holding my own books in my hands  ).

As I said earlier, I think the causal relationship could go either way. People could become more successful using audio to reach a new market. Or they could start doing audio because they are successful and can afford it. Given the high price of entry, it's at least as likely to be the latter. The survey doesn't give us the data to make a firm conclusion.

[Bill Hiatt]

On the backlist issue, yes, definitely, if the backlist is composed of series that are still being added to and that one markets, yes, that makes a much bigger difference than if the backlist is random and/or unconnected to current releases.

That said, I do have some readers flow from one series to another if the genre is the same. My first three series are all in the same universe, which perhaps helps.

[sliderule]

Michael Anderle was talking about a living.

Actually he was talking about being able to retire and survive on $50k per year in Cabo San Lucas.

[Hopscotch]

According to the study, you need to write around 20 to really start making money, not a living, but money...

I doubt the value of mechanistic measurements for climbing to $$success.  If 20 books were the threshold, I'd be pulling in two "livings" now and you'd all know my name but I ain't and you don't.  Close observation of a cosmic bestseller I know tells me there is only one reliable measurement:  Does your writing (good or bad, doesn't matter) beat in rhythm with the reading public's current taste?  If so, the public will make you rich before you write 20 books.

[alhawke]

According to the study, you need to write around 20 to really start making money, not a living, but money...

I doubt the value of mechanistic measurements for climbing to $$success.  If 20 books were the threshold, I'd be pulling in two "livings" now and you'd all know my name but I ain't and you don't.  Close observation of a cosmic bestseller I know tells me there is only one reliable measurement:  Does your writing (good or bad, doesn't matter) beat in rhythm with the reading public's current taste?  If so, the public will make you rich before you write 20 books.

I agree. I think the 20 book ceiling they discovered from the study is more of a reflection on experience. Those who've written up to twenty books presumably have more experience with marketing and selling their books??     

[Bill Hiatt]

Yes, hopefully writers grow with experience, both in writing and marketing. As with audiobooks, the 20 book idea could be a result rather than a cause.

That said, a lot of writers have told stories suggesting that success is a gradual building process. (When I first started writing, there were also a few people whose first just took off, but those stories were rare, even then.) So while twenty isn't a magic number, all things being equal, a writer is probably going be more successful after the release of book 20 than the release of book 1. My (still prawnish) sales descended somewhat from 2017 to 2020, then started growing again, making 2022 one of my better years. KENP reads have been going up steadily since 2019, and 2022 will be the strongest year for me in KU since KU started. The latter is particularly understandable--the more similar books for KU readers to find, the more pages read.

Of course, there are other variables involved. But I'm sure the number of books out there makes some difference. 

[Crystal]

Cabo San Lucas is a resort city, so it's relatively expensive. He's probably living somewhere nearby, like La Paz, if he's living like a king on 50k, and even then, he's not living like a king. More like an American with a 100k/house and slightly cheaper entertainment/ restaurants.

[sliderule]

Cabo San Lucas is a resort city, so it's relatively expensive. He's probably living somewhere nearby, like La Paz, if he's living like a king on 50k, and even then, he's not living like a king. More like an American with a 100k/house and slightly cheaper entertainment/ restaurants.

Not going to split those hairs. I was just correcting what 20booksto50k started as: A retirement plan in a non-US city. It has since taken on to cover making a living since the group has grown and so has its priorities.

[LilyBLily]

It's all YMMV.

Most volume predictions involve publishing the same kinds of stories over and over within a very short period of time. Fine for the reader, but hard to pull off--or even want to pull off--for the author.

I don't call it living it up to have to live in some poverty-stricken country in order to feel rich. The expatriate vibe isn't for me. But then again, YMMV.

[Crystal]

Yeah, it's generally cheaper to live in certain countries, like Mexico, but AFAIK, there are plenty of places in the US with similar property values to tourist-friendly cities in Mexico. I know a lot, because I'm looking to buy a place in Mexico and Cabo is high on my list (as I'm from Southern California, I find the scenery of Baja California very familiar). So is Puerto Vallarta, which is less known, but similarly priced (and verrry popular with ex-pats).

The biggest difference is, IMO, the weather in touristy parts of Mexico is generally nicer than the weather in places in the US with 150-200k homes (though the summers are quite hot). Other counties are cheaper, no doubt, but I'm not sure it's as cheap as some people think (at least compared to living in a very low coast of living rural part of the US).

(I'm looking for a winter home, bc, prices in Southern California being what they are, it's significantly cheaper for me to own a home in the PNW and in Mexico than to buy one anywhere near where I grew up in Southern California).

I do think, generally, the WWM survey shows more books = more money, but it's not as linear as people would hope. We can't just push out books and expect more money. It's more that people who stick around, and keep writing more books, are the ones who start making money.

I have 30-something books and I don't really see my backlist income grow, overall, when I add new books. With visibility from a new release, sure, but not from the book itself. I think most readers are only going to read 3-5 of our books, with another segment reading 5-10, so beyond a certain point (I'd say around three finished series), additional books/series start to see diminishing returns. People have limited attention. Authors too. We can't promise ten series, all the time, with equal results. If I put two free books in an email, I'll see fewer attention to each book than if I put one, etc.

[Bill Hiatt]

There are different kinds of fans, and from our limited data, it's hard to tell how many of which kind there are. People who like the genre in general may read a few books each from several authors. People who really like a specific author can and will often read everything they can find by that author, or at least, everything in the same genre.

I've noticed a recent trend toward more people pressing the button to buy the full series. I think that's partly because Amazon handles series better than it used to. But I also noticed one sale of all my major titles that may be connected to the new sponsored brand ads. (I can't be sure, of course, that all the titles were bought by one person, but all the sales got recorded at the same time--it was a day when I was watching closely.)

It's also important to consider that the pool of readers is not static. New ones get added all the time. So while some readers may drift away from us, and from them, more books doesn't equal greater returns. But more books do potentially equal more ways for new readers to discover us.

Of course, one has to find ways to market them. We'd all agree that having a huge pile of books that are all more or less invisible is not effective.

[LilyBLily]

The U.S. definitely has its own places with a much cheaper cost of living than others. I live in one of those rural southern states. The differences in culture between urban/suburban/rural are vast, and there has to be a plan to enjoy what the cheapest place offers and deal with being a newcomer not culturally in line with the majority of the long-term locals. People often don't think about that and they should.

I experienced that going from one neighborhood to another in Brooklyn, however, so it's nothing new to me. But many an urban person has felt lost in a nice suburb, and many a suburban person would have problems raising kids in a rural area because of culture clash. Writers without kids who simply keep to themselves may have fewer difficulties.

There's plenty of animus against newcomers everywhere. When we visited Easter Island, our local guide expressed his dislike of tourists and his wish they would just drop off their money and go away.

As for reading deeply in one author's oeuvre, there's a certain amount of fatigue that makes one stop the binge after a while. The author's tricks and tics become too apparent. That author may be picked up later by the same reader after the memory of the tics becomes vague. The reader also may do less gulping and more savoring. (That doesn't pay the author more, alas, except maybe in Kobo Plus?)