How Authors Make Money

Knowing where to start when it comes to publishing a book and making money as an author can be difficult. It can be hard to decide whether to go with traditional, self, or hybrid publishing methods. 

If this sounds like you, keep reading. I’ll be breaking everything you need to know about making money as an author below. 

TRADITIONAL

A blog from Reedsy describes traditional publishing as working with a third-party publisher to publish your book. If you decide to go with the traditional route, your publisher will take care of the cover design, marketing, editing, etc. When the book is released, the publisher will then pay you, the author, a small percentage of the royalties. 

Traditional publishing means that you will give up full ownership of your book, but you don’t have to worry about paying for extra expenses out of your own pocket. 

Literary Agents

Before we get into making money with traditional publishing, it’s important to understand the role of an agent in getting money for your work.

Agents represent authors and help them secure deals with publishing companies. When the author makes money from their book, their agent also receives a commission. 



Book Advancement

A Book advance is an amount of money that a publisher offers an author in exchange for the publishing rights to their work. An author keeps the advance no matter how many copies of their book may or may not sell. 

The terms of the publishing contracts must be fulfilled for authors to receive their advance.



Authors typically receive pieces of their advancements after things such as signing, delivery and acceptance of the final manuscripts, hardcover publication, and softcover publication, are complete. 

Advances are paid to the author's agent, the agent takes their portion of their commission, and then the rest is paid to the author.

Royalties

Royalties are revenue from book sales. Royalties are either based on the list price of the book or the net amount received from the publisher.

Let's break that down:

List price royalties are 10% of whatever the list price of the book is. If a hardcover book is listed at $20.00 then the royalty will always be $2.00, no matter how much the book is purchased for. 

The net amount received is when the royalty is based on the amount of money the publisher receives from the retailer for the copy sold. This still may not relate to the actual price the book is purchased for. It’s usually based on whatever split the publisher has agreed upon with the retailer. For example, if the publisher receives 30% of the list price for every copy sold by the retailer, the net amount received is based on the publisher’s 30%.

First royalties pay off the advance. If the author is given a $20,000 advancement, their book has to earn more than $20,000 in royalties for the author to start receiving them.

Subrights Through a Publisher

Royalties are put in place when the publisher publishes an author’s work themselves. If the publisher decides to sell the rights to a third party to publish, subrights are put into place. 

A subright is the right to publish the material in a different format than the original work. For example, adapting a book to become a movie. 

When a subright deal is made, the author will still receive royalties from it. 

Subrights include things like:

• Television

• Movies

• Foreign Publication/Translation

• Merchandise

Subrights Retained by the Author

Agents will try to hold onto as many rights as possible so the author does not have to split the proceeds with a publishing company. This also allows the author to sell subrights directly to third parties on their behalf. After the agent receives their commission, the author will receive the rest of the money. 

SELF-PUBLISHING

Self-publishing is when you, the author, take on all the responsibilities of publishing a book yourself. Well you won’t have the industry connections that come with working with a publisher, you will have complete control over what happens with your book, and therefore, keep a larger percentage of the money from your book sales. 

There are two ways to self-publish: Direct distribution and self-publishing via a distributor. Let’s break those down. 

Self-Publishing Direct Distribution

Self-published receive a percentage of every book sold when they go directly to the platforms that publish their books. Each platform has a different percentage that the author receives. You can find an extensive list here.

Here are some examples:

• Barnes and Noble Press

  • Paperback: 55% of sales

  • Ebook: 40-65% of sales

• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

  • Paperback: 60% of sales

  • Ebook: 35-70% of sales

Self Publishing via a Distributor

Working with distributors will make it easier for an author to get their work in places that would be difficult for them by themselves.

Check out this video to learn more about traditional versus self-publishing.

HYBRID PUBLISHING

Hybrid publishing is a term to cover all new models of publishing that are joining the industry. Hybrid publishing can include elements from both traditional and self-publishing. You can read more about it here.

Authors make money from hybrid publishing with royalties.

Written By: Leah Gerber

CONCLUSION

Are you ready to start making money as an author? Which method sounds more appealing to you, traditional, self, or hybrid publishing? Let us know in the comments below. 

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If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer audiobook production services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Listen to some of our audiobook samples here to get started.

8 Tips for Creating a Professional Author Page on Amazon Author Central

Are you an author searching for an effective way to boost your book sales? Look no further than the Author Page feature on Amazon Author Central. Your Author page is the perfect place to tell readers more about you, share book related content, prove your legitimacy as an author, and sell your books. With these 8 easy tips you’ll be on your way to creating an impactful Author Page on Amazon Author Central.

By the time you’re done reading this article, your Author Page will have:

• An effective bio

• An author photo

• Blog posts and videos

• A clean shareable URL

• All your books claimed

• Editorial Reviews

• International accounts

Getting Started

Before we dive into the tips, it’s important to understand what Amazon Author Central is and How an Author Page works. An article from feedvisor explains that an Author Page on Amazon Author central allows any published author to sell books that have an ISBN. it is free to use and a very successful marketing tool. 

As a new author using Amazon Author Central, you’ll want to follow these step-by-step instructions for creating an account.

1. Visit Amazon Author

2. Click join for free

3. Enter your email address and password

4. Verify your email

With 4 easy steps you’ll be on you way to creating an effective Author Page. Once your account is created, you can search for your books using their ISBNs, and then begin creating your Author Page. 

Tip 1: Create an Effective Bio

Your author bio is the first place readers will go to learn more about you. It should be a way for readers to connect you to your books. 

Things to include in your author bio:

• Interesting facts about you

• Relevant awards

• Hobbies

• Your social media handles

• Your Website

Below is an example of an effective bio from author Rodney Curtis. He includes details about his personal life and career, as well as his website. 

Tip 2: Include an Author Photo

Adding a photo of yourself to your Author page is a great way to personalize your page. This allows readers to put a face to a name and feel more connected to you and your work.

Your photo should be in high definition, colour, and include your whole face. Make sure it is well lit so readers can tell exactly what you look like. 

You can include up to 8 photos on your Author page so don’t be afraid to attach a relevant photo of yourself to different books.

Tip 3: Share Blog Posts and Videos

Adding blog posts and videos are a great way to keep your readers up to date with news surrounding you or your books. 

You can add a blog post by:

1. Selecting add blog from the blogs section of your Author Page.

2. Add the RSS address for your blog. Make sure it’s the RSS and not the URL

3. View your blog under the Author Updates section of your Author Page

You can add a video by:

1. Selecting add video from the videos section of your Author Page

2. Select browse and choose the video you would like to upload

3. When the video is done uploading, you will have to select approve

The videos you upload to your page can include things like book trailers, readings, and any other content related to your books. 

Some things to keep in mind:

• Videos need to be mov, mpg, avi, flv, or wmv format

• Videos need to be smaller than 500MB

• Videos need to be less than 10 minutes long

Tip 4: Customize Your Shareable URL

Your shareable URL should look clean and professional. People will be less interested in your author page if the URL is filled with a bunch of random letters and numbers. 

Changing your URL is simple. All you have to do is select Amazon Page URL, and then edit it so it is clean and simple. Sometimes the URL you choose is already in use so be prepared to have a couple different variations if your first choice is unavailable.

Tip 5: Claim More Books

When you first set up your Author Page, you’ll have already claimed your books. If you’ve written books under a different pen name or as a collaboration with other authors, you can also claim those! 

Here’s how to claim more books

1. Select Add More Books under the Books tab of your Author Page

2. Search for your other titles

3. When you find them, select this is my book

4. A dialogue box will appear where you then select this is my pen name

Once you complete these sets you will have a new Author Page created for that pen name. It will all be linked with the same Amazon Author Central account, and you can have up to 3 pen names for each Author Central account. 

Adding books that you collaborated on is also very easy. All you have to do is click add more books and select your name as author.

Tip 6: Add Editorial Reviews

Do your books have lots of glowing reviews? You can add them right to your Author Page and show them off to your followers

Here’s how to add reviews

1. Select the books tab

2. Choose the book you would like to attach a review to

3. Select add and then follow the formatting guidelines to add your review

4. Preview and then save changes

Kindle copies of your books can have an unlimited number of reviews and physical copies are limited to five reviews, so make sure you are choosing reviews from reliable critics. 

Tip 7: Update Your International Accounts

Amazon Author Central is available in multiple countries, so make sure you set up Author Pages in other countries where you have books published. 

If you have an Author Page set up on Amazon Author Central in a country that speaks another language, it’s a good idea to translate your page to that language. Make sure to hire an actual translator and don’t use google translate.

Try utilizing LinkedIn, one of the largest professional networking sites in the world. With its expansive database of professionals from all industries and backgrounds, you have access to a wide range of potential translators who might be able to help you out with your project. Once you’ve identified a few potential candidates, use an email finder tool to quickly look up their contact information so you can reach out and discuss the project.

Tip 8: Keep Your Author Page Updated

The most important, and probably the most difficult thing to do is keep your Author Page updated. Add new books, update your bio and photos, and remove anything that becomes irrelevant, you don’t want viewers to get caught up in the unimportant things. You should be updating your Author Page at least once a month to keep content fresh and readers engaged.

Final Outcome

After putting all these tips into play on your author page, you should have the following:

1. A detailed and effective bio

2. All your published books listed, including ones you have collaborated on

3. Photo and video related content

4. A linked blog that is updated regularly   

If you’re still feeling a bit lost, check out this short video on setting up your Amazon Author Page.

Written By: Leah Gerber

Conclusion

An Amazon Author page is an effective tool for any author to use and it’s easy to set up as well! You’ll be able to grow your following on your Amazon Author page in no time with these tips. 

Are you an author with an already established author page? Let us know in the comments what you did to create a developed Author Page!

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If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer audiobook production services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Listen to some of our audiobook samples here to get started.

How To Write A Book

Almost every good book follows the basic framework that includes the beginning, middle, and a strong ending. It seems so simple before you actually start writing the book. The most important part is to start and have a solid plan moving forward. This article will help break it down for you, so you can finally start writing that book you’ve been talking about for ages!

Title page

I know everyone says not to judge a book by their cover but the harsh truth is that it is the first thing potential readers look at before picking up a book.  It depends on you and your process whether you want to choose a cover before or after your book is finished but make sure that it is professionally edited and fits an appealing aesthetic. As a writer, it is important to decide on a cover that represents your book the best as possible.

Cover design 

This can be your chance to be creative so your book can stand out from the crowd or in this case bookshelf. In an article by Karla Lant available on 99designs, the author goes over the anatomy that goes behind a book cover. There is nothing wrong with getting some influence from other authors that are in your genre (with proper credit!) during your planning phase. 

Some important factors of a book that are important to consider are the front and back cover, the layout, spine, fonts, and more. Typography is also a very important part to consider that will shift how your vision is viewed visually based on the theme of your book. The cover is also space where you put your publishing company logo and your other works near the bottom of your front page.

What is your book about?

Before writing your book it is important to first know what kind of genre it is as the formalities that you book will follow largely depends on this. For example, a nonfiction book would include aspects like a table of contents that are critical for readers to refer back to. Whereas, that wouldn’t really apply for let’s say, a fiction book as it would give out spoilers to the main subsets of a story. Here are some of the components of a book's front matter that is considered.

Formalities

Copyright: Before your readers can get to the fun part of your book, there are first some formalities that you must get out of the way. This includes something called the “Colophon”.

This is the legalese that is placed at the front of the book and provides your book statistical as well as professional information. For example your copyright information, International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and information about the contributors to your book like your editors. 

The dedication page- is also an important thing to consider as it is a place to give recognition to your influencers or anyone who helped you write your book. Another option is to write an epigram which is just a quote that also helps tell your readers inspiration for your work and an idea of what your book will be about. 

Foreword- is a type of introduction that is usually written by a colleague, friend or family member before the body of the book is introduced. 

Body

Now here is when the fun part of the book begins, your body! This is where all your hard work and ideas are placed but it is not just as simple as just a pile of words. There is an important structure to consider in terms of the way that your book will be organized. 

Introduction: This also largely depends on whether your book is fiction or nonfiction and of course what structure you want your book to follow. For the basics though, the first thing you are going to need is an introduction if you are writing a nonfiction book which will give a little insight into your book before you go into it.

On the other hand, for a fiction book, a prologue is used instead which instead provides a space for setting an atmosphere for your story that you will letter go in-depth in. 

Chapters: Everyone knows almost every book has chapters that help divide up a book into digestible parts. Chapters themselves have a sort of structure that is followed that an article by “MasterClass” dives into.  Pacing is a crucial factor of chapters that depends on the topic of your book and how long your book is. 

This is especially important in fiction books, where chapters give the opportunity to incorporate import plot devices such as cliffhangers, focus, a change of perspective, etc. All these factors considered it is crucial to seek balance in order to convey your story, dialogue, and narration in an effective manner. 

Conclusion: At the end of a book there is also a summary that completes the book. For a nonfiction book, this is referred to as the conclusion. This also depends on the type of nonfiction book as academic writings usually contain a clearly stated conclusion. 

The back Matter

About the author: This is a commonplace where authors write a brief summary about themselves. This includes information about their previous work, as well as their education and their personal life.  A blog that is available at Reedsy has a great rundown on how to write an author's bio that you should check out. 

Discussion questions Are an interesting aspect to add that will help your readers discuss your book with friends and keep a conversation going.

Index: This is an interesting tool that writers use that fiction writers are starting to pick up on as well. An article by Reedsy outlines the importance of indexes as helping buyers to find their interest in a book and is highly correlated with sales as well!

Audiobooks

The audiobook is a growing field where more and more book readers are utilizing programs such as Audibly. An article by Clare Thorp available on BBC is something authors should seriously consider in investing to widen their customer base.  The increasing popularity of audiobooks, as well as podcasts, attracts publishers to build teams to produce amazing listening experiences for their audiences. If you are interested in audiobook production / editing teams to help with the formation of your next audiobook, check out Jony Studios here!

Conclusion

Writing a book doesn’t have to be as complicated as it is first made out to be. Following these steps helps break it down so you can finally get rid of your writer's block. With the rising audiobook use among new readers, considering making your book available in audio format is also important. Readers will appreciate it when a book is also narrated by the author as well! What aspects of book aspects did you notice before and didn’t consider until after reading this blog? Let us know below!

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If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer audiobook production services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Listen to some of our audiobook samples here to get started.