can someone really make a living selling novels? realistically...because Ive always thought about it...I loved writing in University..hmmm now you ve got me thinking
Quoting: Sugar Kills You can, but it takes a LOT of luck and talent. It's virtually unheard of for an unknown coming out with a breakout hit Novel. Unually it's someone who knows someone, or is already entrenched in the publishing industry, Look up Gillian Flynn. Worked at Entertainment Weekly for years. Wrote a novel and is now a huge success.
I know many writers of varying degrees of success. Several still have day jobs.
One couple I know makes a living writing novels as a duo. They work Very Hard. They don't have insurance, they still have a mortgage, etc...
And what a lot of people forget to take into account, the average advance for a new author is only $10K. Of which you get half up front, and the other half about 6 months later. And then you HOPE and PRAY that you sell more copies than they expected and you get a second print run.
And THEN after all of that sweat, you still have to pay taxes. Which will CRUSH you if you don't do it 'right' (save, incorporate, etc).
And my friends (the couple) they made a deal with their editor that they have rights to anything shorter than so many words, so that they can self-publish 'continuing adventures of' stories electronically to get a basic monthly income that they can use for regular bills like groceries & gas.
They write ALL the time.
It is not a job for the faint of heart... Even if you're really successful after the first or the second or the third.
And they are 'NY Times Best sellers, too'. They just haven't written their 'Da Vinci Code' yet.
