My Recent Income From Book Sales

I get asked a lot about how much money I earn from my writing, but it's not something I like to talk about.

I always think that if I had a regular 9 to 5 job no one would ask me how much I earn but writers get asked about this often.

In a way I can understand why people want to know.

There's much talk about how it's possible to earn a really good income as a writer and apart from asking successful writers, there's no way to find out.

For regular careers there's a minimum wage and average income that anyone can look up. But writers are different because we're not paid by the hour. It's the same for musicians and artists. None of them earn a 'standard' income because there is no standard income for creative careers.

But having said all that, just to show that it is possible to earn a good income as a writer, I'll tell you about part of a conversation I had with my bookkeeper just a few days ago.

He rang to ask me a few questions about my most recent income. I'd sent him all the paperwork but he still had a couple of questions.

Then he asked me another question.

He said, "Do you know who much money you've earned from your book sales in the last 2 weeks?"

I admitted that I had no idea. Math has never interested me much so although I know I'm making sales, I don't really track them all the time (that's what bookkeepers are for aren't they?).

So he told me.

"$5,000."

I was pleased. That's pretty good earnings from my books. I don't even have as many published as some authors.

I also make money online from affiliate sales and from advertising on my websites, so earning 5K from just my books was great.

And I'm telling your this not to brag (although some will think 5k is nothing compared to what they earn) but to show you that there is money to be made from self publishing.

And that's another thing...he was only talking about the books I self published and so that figure doesn't include my two books that I didn't publish myself, one of which is The Wealthy Writer.

So if you've ever wanted to start taking your writing seriously and earn enough money so that you can work as a writer like I do, I hope this blog post helps to inspire you to start writing, publishing and marketing more.

And I include publishing and marketing, because without these two things, you won't make any money from your writing at all.

The really good news for me though, is that I'm about to start writing many more books (they're on my schedule of work for the next few months).

So my income can only increase.

:)