It has been five years since I published my first book, The Five Princes, and I wanted use this anniversary as an excuse to tell you five hard lessons I’ve learned after five years of writing and publishing books. I warn you that a lot of these truths are rough, but I do have some hope for you at the end of this list, so make sure to get all the way through to the end if you start to feel hopeless and discouraged halfway through.
The first lesson is that writing is a hamster wheel
Last month in my blog post, “I Don't Want to Write Anymore”, I talked about the hamster wheel of creativity. When you are an author, you’ll find yourself in an endless cycle of rough drafts, edits, publishing, marketing and the like. The cycle doesn’t change and the demands keep coming. There are only breaks if you force yourself to take a break, and convincing yourself to take a break can be incredibly difficult.
While this wasn’t so bad for the first three years, somehow, around year four I started to get exhausted by it. Perhaps this is because I wasn’t seeing the responses I wanted to see. My books weren’t flying off the shelves, nor were they getting awards or recognition, or even that many reviews.
Which was the second hard lesson I had to learn.
Your first book will not make you famous - or an income
There are so many YouTube videos and posts about making hundreds or even thousands of dollars each month from writing, and I hate to say this, but it’s just not the normal occurrence.
Let me give you some really depressing statistics.
According to the Alliance of Independent Authors. in 2022, the median income for indie authors was $12,755 per year. This sounds like a nice little side of change until you go further and realize that these numbers are not equal across the board. Most of this income is received by the top 10% of indie authors. AIA quotes: “...established, superstar authors with extensive networks will receive a disproportionately bigger slice of the total net worth of writing, compared to the less established, more typical life of an indie author. “ In other words, only a tiny percent of indie authors make this income.
Can you get to that top percent? Sure. But not statistically likely. According to Berrett-Koehler Publishers, “the average book published today is selling less than 300 print copies over its lifetime in the US retail channels.”
And what’s more, even if you sell on multiple platforms - ebooks, audiobooks, and the like - you’ll still be selling less than 1000 books in a lifetime. This is because there are over 2 million books being published each year, so most books are going to fall into nothingness.
So if you’re a published indie author and you’re selling ten books a month, guess what - you’re doing great! You’re not even failing, really. You’re exactly where most people are. Even if you’re doing everything those bookselling gurus tell you to do in order to sell your books, it can still equal a depressing number of sales.
Success has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time with the right skill sets and the right appeal.
Which is the third hard lesson: You can do everything right and still not be successful
Success has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time with the right skill sets and the right appeal. If you have any experience with content creation, such as Youtube or TikTok, you’ll know how hard it is to hit the algorithm in a way that gets views. In the same way, writing books has its own difficult algorithm that can be studied and attempted, but not always cracked. You can check off all the boxes when it comes to eye catching marketing, a stylish book cover, solid writing, engaging social media… and you could still only be getting a few sales per month. Even if you do everything right, it doesn’t mean you’ll see the results you want.
I’ve spent five years trying out different kinds of book marketing to get views and sales, and it comes back with bitter results. It’s part of the business, I guess. And it stings more realizing how much money I’ve spent on book production and marketing, only to have few sales. Which is the fourth hard lesson.
The publishing and marketing process is incredibly expensive
The reason I became an indie author was because of time. I didn’t want to waste years trying to track down a literary agent only to wait for the literary agent to find a publisher, who would make me rewrite my entire story to suit their creative vision instead of my own. So I decided that indie publishing was the best for me. I wish I had known, however, that it would cost $2000-3000 to publish a book. Of course, you can do this for less if you have a variety of skills like creating book covers and book formatting, but I didn’t have either of those skills so I hired them out.
So why does it cost so much? Because you have to pay for all the things the traditional book companies usually cover. Editors will be the most expensive, but are a non-negotiable part of publishing. They can cost an easy grand depending on the length of your book. Book covers can cost anywhere from $300-500 a piece. Formatting is $100-200.
So after book covers, formatting, and editing, you still have to take care of legal fees like ISBNs and copyright; followed by the ongoing marketing fees to get your book out into the public eye. I made the mistake of using a credit card to cover the costs. Don’t do that. Soon after I did that, Covid hit, disrupting my income substantially and eventually costing me my job. That credit card bill was a menace for years after that.
Bottom line, you won’t be making your money back easily. Some people do, but if you go back to my previous hard truth that says that most books only sell 300 books in their lifetime, you’ll realize that most books don’t make back what they cost. Not unless you have a thick backlog of ten books or so, or you do rapid releases. I, however, do not apply to either of those.
Which brought me back to the reality that with the amount of books that I’ve written, and with the amount of response they’ve been getting, my books can’t be a main source of income at this time.
Which is the fifth hard truth: Writing books is not a common full time income.
Now. this has been a truth since the dawn of time. This truth was a truth before the internet and self-publishing were even a thing. I know because I remember those times. Even in the 90s, I was told to hold a job on top of writing. That’s why I studied video game design. That’s why I’m a teacher now.
There are many content creators and indie authors that claim you can be a full time writer, and I don’t think they’re attempting to be dishonest, but they’re quite misleading. You can, absolutely be a full time author. But it’s not easily done. You have to write to market, have good marketing and content creation skills, and enough finances to invest in yourself in the beginning few years. But 90% of us indie authors - and even most of the traditionally published authors - are not going to be making even part time income from our books.
We all need stories. We need to read them and we need to tell them. That’s how human beings function.
So I’ve told you all the hard truths, now, what’s the good news in all this?
You may be wondering what the point of writing books is, if it’s not going to be easy or a lucrative investment. I don’t blame you. I have the same thoughts from time to time. But let’s bring some of the positive truths to light: first, that you can write and publish books easily in this day and age. It’s possible to write and share any story you want with the world. Second, those books can create an income for you, even if it’s just a small one. Third, your stories will touch and reach people, giving them relief and hope. Fourth, writing stories is the best way to understand the world around you and heal your own soul.
Storytelling is a necessary vitamin for the soul. It cannot live without it. Storytelling is how we build hope, empathy, wisdom, and spirit. Jesus told parables to teach lessons to His people. Children use stories as a means to learn about the world and how to engage in it. Adults use stories as a way to heal and find hope in the crushing light of reality. We all need stories. We need to read them and we need to tell them. That’s how human beings function.
So while becoming an author hasn’t made me rich or famous,-- and the sad truth is that it may never do so – I’ve still created so many wonderful works of art that I get to share with people all around the world, who contact me personally and tell me how much they love my stories. I get asked for autographs and interviews. I get to see my work in bookstores. I get to take part in keeping the priceless entity of storytelling alive. So while I may not be rich, I find myself to be very wealthy.
Anyone who writes can experience this wealth as well.
Why do you want to be a writer? Were any of these truths hard to swallow? Tell me your thoughts in the comments.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel at Otome Author and my blog buymeacoffee.com/otomeauthor for more storytelling and creative writing tips and workshops. You can see more about myself and my works at my website deidreadewitt.com