# Does anybody make money by writing books anymore **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2016, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590 "2016-11-04T06:25:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/63 "2020-04-01T18:04:05Z")
Here is a relevant article for our times regarding authors’ incomes: [Authors, Publishers Condemn The ‘National Emergency Library’ As ‘Piracy’](https://www.npr.org/2020/03/30/823797545/authors-publishers-condemn-the-national-emergency-library-as-piracy) \*“With mean writing incomes of only $20,300 a year prior to the crisis, authors, like others, are now struggling all the more — from cancelled book tours and loss of freelance work, income supplementing jobs, and speaking engagements,” the Authors Guild, a professional group that provides legal assistance to writers, said in a statement released Friday. “And now they are supposed to swallow this new pill, which robs them of their rights to introduce their books to digital formats as many hundreds of midlist authors do when their books go out of print, and which all but guarantees that author incomes and publisher revenues will decline even further.”\* ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/64 "2020-04-01T21:12:54Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > That’s definitely not true anymore, though, in these days of self publishing and ebooks. Without even trying hard, I can name at least 20 people (including myself) who make a healthy living writing books. It’s mostly genre stuff (romance, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) and I can almost guarantee you’ve never heard of any of them, but they’re making anywhere from high five to seven figures. If you look at the statistics, there is a long tail of self-published book sales of under 100. I know someone who does make money, but she had a couple of established series in place before she went into self-publishing, and so had an audience. My wife is a judge for a book contest, and so we get boxes of books, most self-published or from very small presses who charge, and more than 90% are crap. That’s why libraries and bookstores don’t buy them. And these are books someone paid money to enter - I suspect most are even worse. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/65 "2020-04-01T21:15:00Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That’s a bad elevator pitch because it doesn’t give the reader any notion of WHY being a CPA might be fascinating. I’m sure Martin Kihn, author of “House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time” made money of the book and subsequent series on “House of Lies” on Showtime. But I’m also sure his pitch was better than “My book talks about all the fascinating things that happened to me as a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.” > A better elevator pitch might be "My book talks about all the fascinating things that happened to me as a Chartered Public Accountant at Global Big-4 professional services Ernst & Young…working for famous drug lord clients. You waited four years to respond to that? I’ve heard of people taking a long time to get punch lines, but this may be a record. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/66 "2020-04-01T23:13:22Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > That’s definitely not true anymore, though, in these days of self publishing and ebooks. Without even trying hard, I can name at least 20 people (including myself) who make a healthy living writing books. It’s mostly genre stuff (romance, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) and I can almost guarantee you’ve never heard of any of them, but they’re making anywhere from high five to seven figures. This is the most amazing development for someone like me who got into the field 50 years ago. Genre writers almost never made money until around the 1980s, when a few of the Big names hit the bestseller lists. Even back then, though, it was clear that mid-level writers were in trouble. And the market overall indeed became stars and strugglers. I remember a bunch of people at an sf con in the 80s or 90s trying to name all the writers making over $100,000. It wasn’t a long list. Then romance exploded. And YA exploded. And fantasy exploded. (Mysteries and sf not as much.) And some people learned how to create online audiences that were incredibly passionate and connected and aware of every new release. They boomed while writers who stuck to the older ways didn’t. There are always downsides. The new era is remarkably similar to the heyday of the pulps. Volume was predominant; not only did you need to write a million words a year but they didn’t count unless you created series characters that brought the readers back. And you had to write for the hot genres (which definitely didn’t include f&sf). Some writers could hack that, most couldn’t. That’ll always be true for whatever permutation the market throws up. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/67 "2020-04-01T23:35:18Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > This is the most amazing development for someone like me who got into the field 50 years ago. Genre writers almost never made money until around the 1980s, when a few of the Big names hit the bestseller lists. > > Even back then, though, it was clear that mid-level writers were in trouble. And the market overall indeed became stars and strugglers. I remember a bunch of people at an sf con in the 80s or 90s trying to name all the writers making over $100,000. It wasn’t a long list. Then romance exploded. And YA exploded. And fantasy exploded. (Mysteries and sf not as much.) And some people learned how to create online audiences that were incredibly passionate and connected and aware of every new release. They boomed while writers who stuck to the older ways didn’t. > > There are always downsides. The new era is remarkably similar to the heyday of the pulps. Volume was predominant; not only did you need to write a million words a year but they didn’t count unless you created series characters that brought the readers back. And you had to write for the hot genres (which definitely didn’t include f&sf). Some writers could hack that, most couldn’t. That’ll always be true for whatever permutation the market throws up. My understanding is that in 1930s through 1950s, it was possible to make a living as a writer, even writing short stories - the pay rate was lower than it is now, but the costs of living was much much less. For example, Asimov made his first sale in 1939, to a lesser market (Amazing) which paid less than other magazines did. He got $64 - which doesn’t sound like much, but the minimum wage in 1939 was 25 cents, so Asimov got the equivalent of 6 weeks pay. At that time, there were probably a lot of authors, who by dint of writing incessantly, in all genres, managed to keep body and soul together. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/68 "2020-04-02T01:40:31Z")
According to the 1940 census, the average income was $1,368. Asimov would have needed to sell 21 stories to hit that. His 21st story appeared in 1942. I’d call that a struggling writer. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/69 "2020-04-02T02:33:57Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > According to the 1940 census, the average income was $1,368. Asimov would have needed to sell 21 stories to hit that. His 21st story appeared in 1942. I’d call that a struggling writer. I’m not suggesting that Asimov was making a living wage, just indicating that even a first-time writer, selling to a low-paying (by the standards of the time) market, could make an amount of money that was not insignificant by the standards of the time (Asimov notes that in 1944, when he got a check for $66 dollars for a short story reprint, that it was equivalent to 6 weeks rent - and today, I don’t think there’s a writer alive who could get that much money for a short story reprint). Asimov wasn’t a full-time writer at the time either; he was in grad school - if he had nothing else to do but write, he could probably have sold 21 stories in a year given the number of markets available at the time (the number of magazines in all genres is truly staggering). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/70 "2020-04-02T03:06:34Z")
You need to go back in time and tell all those f&sf writers how good they had it, because from their memoirs and histories they either wrote like crazy or had day jobs, mostly the latter. Even Heinlein barely got by on his writing income until the early 50s. He sold the rights to one of his magazine novels in 1947 for $200 to a small book publisher because he absolutely needed the money. (Or maybe 1948. I don’t have his biography handy.) I’m also amazed you think that writing and selling even 21 stories a year was not writing like crazy. The top 5% of pulp writers could pump them out that fast. I’m talking about the other 95%. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/71 "2020-04-02T03:29:56Z")
I wonder if the op ever finished his book … ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/72 "2020-04-02T03:54:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > If you look at the statistics, there is a long tail of self-published book sales of under 100. I know someone who does make money, but she had a couple of established series in place before she went into self-publishing, and so had an audience. I am fairly connected in the self-publishing/indie publishing world and yes, the vast majority of people who self-publish will make less than a hundred dollars from it. That’s because they are not serious about the business. They may or may not be serious about the craft, but when you self-publish, you’re not JUST a writer anymore, you’re a publishing company with one writer employed. You have to learn how to market, how to choose the right cover artist, how to write ad copy. You have to learn what sells and, well, if not write your book according to those trends then at least market it according to those trends. Self-published romance novelists who can write a short book (say 50,000 words or so) every couple weeks and know how to market can make millions of dollars a year. I write military science fiction and was never conventionally published. I am NOT one of the most successful indie mil-SF writers out there, but I have made a consistent 50-60K a year for the last four years, and I made over double that one year. And honestly, I suck at marketing is the only reason I haven’t made more money. I just write a lot of books. I am just about to complete my 35th novel, 30 of which I have written in the last four years. It’s not an easy way to make a living, but if you love doing it, it’s better than sitting in a cubicle. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/73 "2020-04-02T06:32:03Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > I am fairly connected in the self-publishing/indie publishing world and yes, the vast majority of people who self-publish will make less than a hundred dollars from it. That’s because they are not serious about the business. They may or may not be serious about the craft, but when you self-publish, you’re not JUST a writer anymore, you’re a publishing company with one writer employed. You have to learn how to market, how to choose the right cover artist, how to write ad copy. You have to learn what sells and, well, if not write your book according to those trends then at least market it according to those trends. I was in a critique group with a guy who wrote a memoir. He was in marketing, he had a good cover, and he even got on the radio in his home town. He still didn’t sell many books because they weren’t very good. I assure you, I’ve seen plenty of self-published books with great covers but with a first five page which make every writing mistake known to humankind. Half the books of the writer I mentioned are romances. It took her six books to sell one to a publisher. When people read stuff like what you wrote, they can get the idea that they can pound something out and make big bucks. Happens sometimes, but not that often. But it seems easy for those who can do it, like you obviously can. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/74 "2020-04-02T07:51:00Z")
Technology has changed, and the market has changed, but hack writing has been around for centuries. [Grub Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grub_Street) was a street in London where many hack writers lived and worked from the late 17th century to the early 19th. They churned out large quantities of writing for pamphlets and magazines, and wrote books and essays and poetry on all subjects on demand. Generally they wrote very large quantities of work that was rapidly forgotten, and earned barely enough to keep them from starving. Dr Samuel Johnson was a Grub Street hack for years. Later he achieved fame by writing his great Dictionary - though he made little money from it. I’m currently busy reading the autobiography of [Arthur Ransome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome) - interesting and brilliantly written. He supported himself by his own writing from the age of 19, in pre-WW1 London. But he often lived in one room with packing case furniture, and for weeks at a time could only afford to eat bread, cheese, and apples. (He became far more successful later.) In the early days, he was constantly writing large quantities of low-quality output, and ghost writing some books. He had a large circle of literary and arty friends, through whom he got work, and kept actively promoting himself to publishers. The most prolific published writer in the world is somebody you’ve never heard of - [Charles Hamilton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hamilton_%28writer%29) (1876–1961). He is said to have published about 100 million words. That’s the equivalent of over 830 novels of 120,000 words. He wrote under many different pen names, of which the best known was ‘Frank Richards’. His output consisted almost entirely of stories for boys’ magazines, particularly _The Magnet_ with its the Greyfriars School stories. He would churn out a 20,000-25,000 word story every single week, year after year, and decade after decade. And sometimes two or three stories that size a week for different magazines. _The Magnet_ at its height in the 1920’s had a weekly print run of over 200,000 copies. (All issues available [here](http://www.friardale.co.uk/Magnet/Magnet.htm).) He made a comfortable living, but was never wealthy. The quality of his writing is better than you might expect from that kind of output. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/75 "2020-04-02T14:52:31Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > (He became far more successful later.) In the early days, he was constantly writing large quantities of low-quality output, and ghost writing some books. From my outsider’s perspective, that seems to be fairly common for successful writers: early on, they worked very hard for little money. How much money you make as an author can depend on things like not just how skillful you are at your craft, but also how much of a reputation and fanbase you’ve been able to build up, and how much of a backlog you have of titles in print that people are still willing to pay for, and (if you’re lucky) how many of your works people are willing to buy the movie (e.g.) rights to. And those are all things that take time to build up. So, while being able to make a comfortable living as a writer may or may not be a realistic hope, being able to make a comfortable living _right away_ is much more doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/76 "2020-04-02T16:04:01Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You need to go back in time and tell all those f&sf writers how good they had it, because from their memoirs and histories they either wrote like crazy or had day jobs, mostly the latter. Even Heinlein barely got by on his writing income until the early 50s. He sold the rights to one of his magazine novels in 1947 for $200 to a small book publisher because he absolutely needed the money. (Or maybe 1948. I don’t have his biography handy.) I’d love to go back in time and talk to those guys. They were pretty savvy about money (they had to be) and they’d have no problem understanding that since the pay per word has increased by a factor of 10, and the cost of living increased by a factor of 20 to 30, that writers were better off then, then they would be now. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’m also amazed you think that writing and selling even 21 stories a year was not writing like crazy. The top 5% of pulp writers could pump them out that fast. I’m talking about the other 95%. I don’t believe I ever said that. Selling 21 stories in a year is writing like crazy. In 1939, doing so could keep you fed and housed. In 2020, it can’t. I don’t disagree that it was rare in 1939 - just that it was possible then, unlike now. Heinlein is a special case, isn’t he. His response on getting a check for $70 for a single story was “How long has this racket been going on, and why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?” ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/77 "2020-04-02T16:11:05Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Yes, people do. We have at least one Doper who nearly makes a living by self-publishing. I know several authors who make extremely nice livings (six-figure equivalents) by self- and indie-publishing a ton of titles under several pen names. And then there are the people with their feet in the commercial door, and yes, when you sell a book to a big publisher, you get a nice advance and if you’re lucky it even makes it to royalties. > > The usual path of the full-time writer isn’t like Crichton or King. The usual path is to bust your ass churning out 4-6 pulp titles per year, and never get to a point where any random person would ever know your name. You can make a hugely nice living this way, if you market it exactly right and publish frequently. But you won’t be famous. 2 authors I know personally actually got their practice and start doing fan fiction - one started doing Star Trek fanfic, the other [actually a husband and wife team though he was writing solo for several years] started in a different genre [he claims they wrote on the order of a million words of fanfic before they went professional] The first took around a decade before she was making enough monwy to consider it a part time job, the second makes around $10K a year at best in a good year - he will go to pretty much any SF con within easy driving range of where they live, he has a day job with his state government, he makes a bit more money off ebooks than he makes off print books. Another several authors I know make very little writing - if an unexpected bill [like medical or car repair] shows up, they will comment that they have to whip off something to sell, and add content to their patreon on a very regular basis to keep the subscribers interest. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/78 "2020-04-02T18:05:27Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > I write military science fiction and was never conventionally published. I am NOT one of the most successful indie mil-SF writers out there, but I have made a consistent 50-60K a year for the last four years, and I made over double that one year. And honestly, I suck at marketing is the only reason I haven’t made more money. I just write a lot of books. I am just about to complete my 35th novel, 30 of which I have written in the last four years. > It’s not an easy way to make a living, but if you love doing it, it’s better than sitting in a cubicle. Congratulations. You’re doing exactly what I said was necessary and making a success of it. > [@GreenWyvern](#): > > I’m currently busy reading the autobiography of [Arthur Ransome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome) - interesting and brilliantly written. He supported himself by his own writing from the age of 19, in pre-WW1 London. But he often lived in one room with packing case furniture, and for weeks at a time could only afford to eat bread, cheese, and apples. Frank Gruber, now a forgotten name, wrote similarly of his writing career in _The Pulp Jungle_. He starved for a couple of years before finally figuring out the process. By 1935 he was making $10,000 a year, but that meant writing in the 500,000-1,000,000 word range. There were maybe a couple dozen writers at the million/year mark. Erle Stanley Gardner regularly went over it. So did western writer Max Brand. No f&sf writer could because of the tiny number of magazines. Robert Silverberg managed to hit a million in his early years (1956-58) when the f&sf world peaked at 35 magazines. He and buddies Randall Garrett, Harlan Ellison and Henry Slesar wrote entire issues of the lesser magazines under pseudonyms. But Silverberg peaked in the 1960s when paperback soft core porn exploded. In his best year he wrote 36 of those books. Mornings only. Afternoons he reserved for his serious nonfiction work. Some people can do that and turn out readable work. The vast majority cannot. That’s why the mainstream literary world keeps screaming. Velocity is not a virtue there. Day jobs are essential. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/79 "2020-04-02T19:17:20Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > Curious question > > Does anyone make any money by writing and publishing a book anymore > > Or with today’s soundbite and short attention span (myself included) is publishing a book not really feasible unless you are a well known author Well known authors were at some point unknown. > [@](#): > > Are they more likely to watch a streaming video rather than a book. People do both. There’s little evidence the existence of other forms of entertainment prevents people from reading books. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/80 "2020-04-02T20:28:43Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Some people can do that and turn out readable work. The vast majority cannot. That’s why the mainstream literary world keeps screaming. Velocity is not a virtue there. Day jobs are essential. This. Not only volume, but quality. I’ve seen many books that I wish were up to the level of hack writing. I think some people understand storytelling intuitively. Most don’t. And Silverberg has written about how he studied stories in the early '50s sf magazines to figure out how the authors did it. (And has an anthology of some of those stories with commentary.) Most don’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/81 "2020-04-02T21:17:30Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I was in a critique group with a guy who wrote a memoir. He was in marketing, he had a good cover, and he even got on the radio in his home town. He still didn’t sell many books because they weren’t very good. I assure you, I’ve seen plenty of self-published books with great covers but with a first five page which make every writing mistake known to humankind. > Half the books of the writer I mentioned are romances. It took her six books to sell one to a publisher. When people read stuff like what you wrote, they can get the idea that they can pound something out and make big bucks. Happens sometimes, but not that often. But it seems easy for those who can do it, like you obviously can. Yes there has to be quality writing too, of course. But I have seen people who I honestly don’t think are very good writers make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year because they hit the tropes and trends the readers want. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590/82 "2020-04-08T00:20:04Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > … > Bad elevator pitch: My book talks about all the fascinating things that happened to me as a Chartered Public Accountant. > > … Here’s one fellow who had a fairly well-selling book about being [an IRS agent](https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Tax-Collector-Mans-Inside/dp/0060555610) :D. Though he’s somewhat better known for his Alfred Kropp and Fifth Wave stories; I think the IRS book predates those. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-make-money-by-writing-books-anymore/770590.md?page=3)