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

natasharhodes · 05-31-2010, 02:22 PM

I got paid around four thousand pounds (US $6k) for my first Sci Fi book, the novelization of a very popular summer blockbuster movie starring Wesley Snipes back in 2004. In the usual Work-For-Hire method, I was paid 2k on signing and 2k within 30 days of completion.

I wrote four more movie novelizations (turning movies into books) for the same price. Each book took me 2-6 months from the time I received the movie script to the time I handed in the finished manuscript. Although each printing sold out many times over, I never received a penny of royalties because I did not actually 'write' these movie, I just turned the 97-page script into a 400-page book (not hard but definitely time-consuming).

After that I was given my own sci-fi/ fantasy series by the same company, a werewolf/ Vampire series. Unfortunately as I was still considered a 'new' author, my payment for the original series was slashed in half to two thousand pounds per book.

As writing an original novel takes considerably longer than simply turning a script into prose, each book took me just over a year. On average I'd say I put 5-8 hours a day into writing each book (working early mornings, late nights, lunchbreaks and all day most weekends).

That works out at a payment of five pounds ($8) a day for all that work.

I've so far written three books in the series, with a ten percent royalty rate, and have yet to see a penny of royalties. I'm told the series is a 'solid seller' for the company, but as the company does not market my book and I have so little time to promote it with my day job, each book only just 'earns out' the advance I was paid for each book.

Hard reality? Maybe. Enjoyable? Definitely. Will I be quitting my day job any time soon? Unfortunately not.....

05-31-2010, 02:22 PM	#143
natasharhodes Author Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: none	Earnings For New Sci-Fi Authors I got paid around four thousand pounds (US $6k) for my first Sci Fi book, the novelization of a very popular summer blockbuster movie starring Wesley Snipes back in 2004. In the usual Work-For-Hire method, I was paid 2k on signing and 2k within 30 days of completion. I wrote four more movie novelizations (turning movies into books) for the same price. Each book took me 2-6 months from the time I received the movie script to the time I handed in the finished manuscript. Although each printing sold out many times over, I never received a penny of royalties because I did not actually 'write' these movie, I just turned the 97-page script into a 400-page book (not hard but definitely time-consuming). After that I was given my own sci-fi/ fantasy series by the same company, a werewolf/ Vampire series. Unfortunately as I was still considered a 'new' author, my payment for the original series was slashed in half to two thousand pounds per book. As writing an original novel takes considerably longer than simply turning a script into prose, each book took me just over a year. On average I'd say I put 5-8 hours a day into writing each book (working early mornings, late nights, lunchbreaks and all day most weekends). That works out at a payment of five pounds ($8) a day for all that work. I've so far written three books in the series, with a ten percent royalty rate, and have yet to see a penny of royalties. I'm told the series is a 'solid seller' for the company, but as the company does not market my book and I have so little time to promote it with my day job, each book only just 'earns out' the advance I was paid for each book. Hard reality? Maybe. Enjoyable? Definitely. Will I be quitting my day job any time soon? Unfortunately not.....