NY Author Hopes Acclaim Will Bring Success explains why becoming a successful novelist doesn’t mean making much money:
Lennon, 33, has been making his living as a novelist since his first book ‘The Light of Falling Stars’ was published in 1997 and also wrote ‘The Funnies’ and ‘On the Night Plain.’ But despite being a rising star in literary circles, Lennon toils at his profession for modest rewards.His first book brought an advance of $35,000, his second $50,000 and his third effort $80,000. But then his publisher dropped him and he sold ‘Mailman’ for $50,000 to W.W. Norton.
‘In terms of feeding a family of four that has to be spread over 2 years,’ Lennon notes of the seemingly impressive sum of $50,000. And that amount dwindles, he said, when you take out the 15 percent his agent takes and taxes.
‘As soon as you get the money, half of it is gone and you usually have a pile of bills you were waiting to pay until your advance check came so … a lot of money quickly becomes a little money,’ he said.
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On top of that, Baker said young male authors face a bigger obstacle — the majority of fiction readers are middle-aged women. “More than 60 percent of fiction is bought by women and most of that by women aged between 35 and 55. Men are not big fiction readers.”
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Changes in book selling has also made it harder for unknown writers to reach the top. Publishers now have to pay thousands of dollars to chain book stores to get titles prominently displayed in stores and featured in newspaper ads — a dynamic that forces publishers to focus marketing budgets only on authors they are almost certain will turn a profit.