Question about Discussion 1

[Rayne Hall]

>Fact: There are more authors making a living through E-Publishing than traditional print.<

What's your source for this fact, Amber? Can you give figures about how many author make how much?

[AmberKallyn]

Hi Rayne :)

Most of my sources are from speaking with other authors over the years. The problem with hard data is that most authors either can't or don't feel comfortable giving out hard numbers. It makes it hard to pin down exacts, which is why my data is all aproximates :) And I know that doesn't help much.

If you look at NY published authors, the top 5-10% make the majority of the money. Most authors are considered mid-list, and while they make good, if not decent, money from writing, most I've talked to still have to work another job in order to pay bills.

Here is an article with Indie Author J.A. Konrath (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/writers-making-a-living-off-of-kindle_b11559)about what he's making right now as a self-published author. Keep in mind, he did a lot of self-promo and already was a 'known' figure when he decided to self-publish.

This article by Allyson James (http://jenniferonwriting.blogspot.com/2007/12/making-living-as-writer.html)is a few years old, but it's still relevant. She is a Bestselling NY published author. (I'm also getting into more detail about this in Discussion 2)

And this is Brenda Hiatt's site (http://brendahiatt.com/id2.html), she keeps track of and updates data sent from authors and lists the average advance and sell-through for both NY & Epublishers

And this post about authors making money by John Scalzi (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/02/11/unasked-for-advice-to-writers-about-money/), not only a NY published author, but the current President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (http://www.sfwa.org/) . A lot of my information comes from people like him, as well as author networks like SFWA, RWA and the like.

And like I said, Discussion 2 (which I'll post late tonight, for Tuesday) gets deeper into the differences of types of publishing, including the money :)

Hope that helps. If you still have questions, ask away :)

[Rayne Hall]

Thanks, Amber. I appreciate your reply.

And sorry I started a new thread. In all other workshops, there seems to be the rule 'Do not reply to lectures - start a new thread - or else!' :-)

I didn't realise that in this workshop, we're supposed to reply to the main thread. (It's certainly more practical).

Rayne

[AmberKallyn]

No worries. I wasn't very clear about putting questions in the same thread :)

Did I answer your questions?

Thanks

[DMac]

Rayne, thank you for asking the question and Amber, thank you for the answer! So many people are coy about the dollar figures. Those links are very helpful, Amber. Brenda Hiatt's site is terrific -- I'm grateful to all those anonymous authors who share their sales info with her so we have an idea of who pays what.

[AmberKallyn]

I second that. I don't care if it's anonymous, as long as people are willing to share :) It's such a murky topic for a lot of people.