Will Writing a Book Make You Rich?

Average book authors don’t make a lot of money. A typical book author barely makes more than minimum wage. You receive an advance and 10% royalties on net profit from each book. If your $20 book earns you $1 per sale, you need big sales to get rich.
In most cases, if you are writing your first business book, you can expect to get an advance of $4,000 to $10,000. The key thing to remember about that advance is that it’s an advance, so you have to pay that money back.

You can make money from writing a book, from minus money to millions, depending on many factors. It’s often about what you create around the book, such as upselling opportunities or merchandise. For self-published books, it’s also vital to invest time, effort, and potentially money to ensure that readers find your book. Overall, if your primary motivation is to make money, there are probably quicker and easier ways than writing a book. However, there are many non-monetary benefits to it, such as building your industry credibility, helping or inspiring people, leaving a legacy, exercising your creativity, opening new doors, starting conversations, changing the world, and more. Earning money from your writing is just a nice side effect.

By supplementing royalty earnings with additional writerly activities, many authors can quit their 9-5 jobs and make a living. If you’re dreaming of making money by writing books, here are 8 tips to help you out:
1. Write a lot, and to market. Contrary to popular belief, a bestseller isn’t loved by everyone, but rather by a niche audience obsessed with it. As bestselling author Suzy K Quin says, “Best-sellers target a pre-made audience.”