How To Publish Your Book and Make Money

When I asked for feedback in July, Stephen N. asked —

I understand that the majority of authors can’t expect to earn much from advances and royalties.

But what does “much” mean, exactly? Is there a way to realistically determine what to expect?

Y’all. Stephen asks the tough and great questions!

Before I answer, I want to offer the same caveat I always do. My advice is for authors who want to write prescriptive, how-to nonfiction because that’s what I work on.

(If you want to know about other types of books, sign up for this.)

The idea that most authors don’t earn much from advances and royalties is actually a great example of how folks misunderstand publishing — including how the money works.

First: An advance is what’s paid to an author in advance of earnings.

It’s sort of like one of those “get paid early” offers that banks do where you can use the money from your paycheck a few days early. Only in this case the author gets their money slowly, in multiple payments, usually over a year or two.

A publishing advance is not a windfall because a book deal is not the lottery. Instead, the advance is meant to help an author pay for help writing the book (by hiring someone like…