MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How much does the average author get paid?

mdibella · 08-20-2008, 11:13 AM

So many of my favorite authors have blogs now, and it's such a wonderful experience to leave a question and have that author actually answer it!

Something does bother me though. So often an author is asked some variation on 'Why did you stop writing that series? It was so good, why not write more?'

And the answer is always something like 'The publisher refused to pay me enough money to live on, and they owned the series, so I had to stop writing them'

So what is the deal here? It's so easy to imagine that a professional writer makes at least a living salary...writing a book is certainly not a fast or trivial task, and not everyone is capable of it. Sure, someone like Stepen King can probably name his price for his new books, but what does Joe Average Author get for his work? Are they really getting ripped off by the publishers?

08-20-2008, 11:13 AM	#1
mdibella Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 1107 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Infinite Kindles, Occasional Sony's	How much does the average author get paid? So many of my favorite authors have blogs now, and it's such a wonderful experience to leave a question and have that author actually answer it! Something does bother me though. So often an author is asked some variation on 'Why did you stop writing that series? It was so good, why not write more?' And the answer is always something like 'The publisher refused to pay me enough money to live on, and they owned the series, so I had to stop writing them' So what is the deal here? It's so easy to imagine that a professional writer makes at least a living salary...writing a book is certainly not a fast or trivial task, and not everyone is capable of it. Sure, someone like Stepen King can probably name his price for his new books, but what does Joe Average Author get for his work? Are they really getting ripped off by the publishers?