J.K.Rowling.
I want her job.
Nice! Although is that what the book made in a day or what she made from the sales of the book that day? If that’s clear of publishing costs then she’s doing very well. I guess the months of hard work paid off for her.
Did she bollocks.
Her book sold 36 million dollars worth of copies, perhaps, but probably not even a tenth of that would go to her.
Of course, that’s still over 3 million dollars, which is plenty to get excitable about, but it’s a far cry from assuming she pockets all the predicted gross herself.
I don’t think I want her job, actually. Don’t get me wrong, if offered 36 million dollars I would snatch it right up. Given a choice of how I made that money, I don’t know I’d want it precisely like this. There are probably long, long stretches of time she can’t go anywhere safely and be private, even though she keeps a pretty low profile. Sometimes it seems as though the poor woman and her family are under siege from her fans and her detractors-- even the Pope doesn’t like her books! Then, the whole selling of Harry Potter isn’t what I’d want to be a result of something I’d written. I’d be another Bill Watterson (remember Calvin and Hobbes? sigh), making everyone angry with me because I’d want to just sell the books, do a little tour if possible, and nothing more.
But my momma didn’t raise no fools. I’d take the money if offered, yep.
That’s gross profits. Editing costs, printing, distribution, advertising all come off the top.
We’ve seen your writing. If you had her job, you still would not have her income.
I have her job. I am lucky to make $20K over a three-year period from the writing of fiction (and that is still more than many fiction writers make, if they make any at all).
Could we spread this around a little better?
[off to work on my high concept]
If you think that at this point J.K. Rowling isn’t getting a better deal than that, you’re nuts.
She can name her price. I assure you they’re giving her better than10%, because if they weren’t, she’d have gone elsewhere.
it’s not just the publishing. Unless she’s completely ignored the advice of her lawyers and agents, she gets a piece of eveything: movies, tv, toys, games, what have you. She might be able to give the books away at this point, for the publicity, and still make an assload of money.
Most authors get about 1%, so she’s already way ahead.
I’m sure she gets plenty. That’s the beauty part about writing supernatural fiction, you can always bring back lost fan-favorite characters whenever the principal drops below an acceptable margin.
However much it is, it’s a nice paycheck for merely wringing out your soul onto the printed page.
It’s the Rockefeller (IIRC) recipe for success: Rise early. Work late. Strike oil.
Starting a craze has always been a road to riches, if you can only guess what the craze will be. Unfortunately, that’s kinda difficult.
Hilarity… you make money? Out of writing? I hit the wall: I couldn’t bear to beg anyone else to please possibly find some time out of their busy schedule to look at my humble and unworthy scribblings. Getting a letter back from an agent a year and a half after I wrote to them without even five seconds’ worth of apology for the delay or even the time to check the gender of my forename and cross out the irrelevant part of “Dear Sir or Madam” was pretty much the final straw. 
She’s already got £560m in the bank so I imagine she’s got a pretty good contract worked out
Once the next few films around, plus the final book, I imagine she’ll end up with £1bn easy.
She’s earned it. More power to her!
As I understand it, it took her about two years to knock this book out. So she earned about 18 million per year. Probably had some of that as an advance. Her yearly income will go up with further book sales and publishing rights. More power to her, at least she’s worked her way off the dole.
I envy her more for being able to give so much pleasure to so many people, and getting so many kids (boys especially) excited about reading, than I envy her the money.