Why people write books and why you shouldn't do it for the money

So, there is no news from any agents but that is not unexpected. A week may be a long time in politics but it is the blink of an eye when seeking an agent. That is very much the long game.

My first book was self-published as I said and I have helped a few other people self-publish. As part of that, I attended a workshop run by Entrepreneur’s Circle (a business development group) for authors looking to market their books.

There were some good tips on climbing the Amazon best seller lists in specific categories and it was a generally helpful course but one thing that I found interesting was the reason why the people wrote books. I write because I can’t imagine not writing. I have stories to tell and I love sharing them. However, the people there were all writing non-fiction. The books that they were writing were all in support of other business goals.

I think that it is fair to say that many people write books to establish themselves as experts in the subject matter. I can see that a consultant who has written a book on the best ways to unscrew the inscrutable would be well placed to represent themselves as the expert that you need when faced with a problem in that domain. Profits from selling the book will be (for these people) a bonus.

Some write to share their passion with others. I got my brother a book on how to carve decorative wooden objects that was written by someone with a deep love of the subject that he clearly believed that everyone should share. He was writing about his passion and that came across well despite his lack of skill with words.

Text books are a bit of a special case. While novels and most non-fiction books are written and published as more or less one off events, text books are constantly revised. Sometime the subject is one that changes rapidly such as the case with books about technology but other subjects don’t seem to change much. Many students think that it is an attempt to milk profit from the students that form a captive audience. Certainly, the publishers of such books tend to do well with double digit profit margins but I don’t know how much of that gets back to the author. I suspect that the writers of text books are motivated by a desire for reputation as much as any financial motivation.

Others write because they are trying to send a message to the world. Certainly the bible and Chairman Mao little red book proved to be good sellers. Even Mein Kampf has rarely been out of print.

As for writing for the money, well, many authors may do that but it doesn’t really work for most people. There is an illuminating and rather discouraging study here: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/self-publishing-debate-part3/

To pull some figures from the report, most self-published authors make under $5000 (£3500) from their writing with over half of them reporting no profit at all. I make more than that a month in my day job and some of these books will have taken years to write. When I looked at how this compares to conventionally published writers, the result surprised me. About a third of conventionally published authors are in the same $5000 and lower bracket. Fewer than 10% of conventionally published authors and fewer than 2% of self-published authors make a living wage from their writing. In terms of financial returns for the time spent, most authors would be better off with a minimum wage part time second job.

Now, an agent typically takes a 15% cut. It is clear from these figures than this is often 15% of very little. I can quite understand why they looking for the rare sure fire winners in their huge piles of submissions. If these figures are a good guide, it is a wonder that most agents can afford to eat.

Their cut seems very modest indeed when you look at the numbers.

Still, the search continues. Best of luck, folks. I wouldn't say no to a little luck for myself.