Published author earnings vary sharply by work status, publishing route, genre, and experience. In the Authors Guild’s U.S. published-author income study, the median author earned $2,000 in gross book income during 2022 when full-time and part-time authors were combined. Median income rose to $5,000 when other author-related work was included. These are U.S. survey results for 2022, reported as estimated pre-tax gross income; they are not forecasts and do not describe unpublished writers.
Contents
- Overall earnings in 2022
- Full-time and part-time authors
- Traditional, self-published, and Kindle Unlimited earnings
- Earnings by genre
- Experience, backlists, and the earnings distribution
- Demographic differences
- How much income comes from authorship
Overall earnings in 2022
The Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey reports two useful measures of published-author earnings. The first is gross book income: money from books. The second combines book income with other author-related work. For all U.S. published authors in the 2022 survey, the median was $2,000 from books and $5,000 from books plus other author-related work. The combined measure therefore captures income streams that a book-only figure leaves out.
The gap became larger among authors working full time. The median full-time published author earned $10,000 from books in 2022 and $20,000 from books plus other author-related work. Among full-time authors in commercial markets, the corresponding medians were higher: $15,000 from books and $25,000 from combined book and author-related income. The commercial-market figures describe a narrower group, so they should not be treated as the overall full-time median.
Less than half of participating published authors reported non-book author-related income in 2022, according to the Authors Guild 2022 U.S. Published Author Income Study. The survey summary also identifies the $2,000 book-income and $5,000 combined-income medians for the full group.
Full-time and part-time authors
Work status is one of the clearest dividing lines in the 2022 results. The median part-time U.S. published author earned $970 in gross book income. Including non-book author-related work raised the part-time median to $2,000. By comparison, the full-time medians were $10,000 from books and $20,000 from all author-related activities.
Non-book work was not universal even among authors who identified as full time. It was reported by 48% of full-time authors and 43% of part-time authors. The study’s broader result was that fewer than half of participating authors reported this type of income, making it important to separate book royalties or sales income from teaching, speaking, editing, or other author-related earnings when interpreting a median.
| Author group, 2022 | Median book income | Median book plus author-related income |
|---|---|---|
| All published authors | $2,000 | $5,000 |
| Full-time authors | $10,000 | $20,000 |
| Part-time authors | $970 | $2,000 |
| Full-time commercial-market authors | $15,000 | $25,000 |
Source: Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey and the Authors Guild 2022 U.S. Published Author Income Study. All figures refer to U.S. authors and 2022 income.
Traditional, self-published, and Kindle Unlimited earnings
The survey also shows different results by publishing route. The median full-time self-published author earned $12,800 from books in 2022. Across all author-related activities, the median for this group was $15,000. The two figures indicate that the book-income measure and the broader author-work measure answer different questions, even for the same group.
Non-book income was reported by 58% of full-time traditionally published commercial authors and 35% of full-time self-published authors. These percentages describe the share reporting any non-book author-related income; they do not state how much each group earned from it.
Kindle Unlimited authors formed another distinct comparison group. Full-time authors whose most recent book was on Kindle Unlimited had median book income of $15,000 and median combined book and non-book author-related income of $20,500 in 2022. Part-time Kindle Unlimited authors had median book income of $594 and median combined income of $1,000.
The Kindle Unlimited results should be read with the work-status distinction in mind. The full-time and part-time groups are not interchangeable, and the study’s figures concern authors whose most recent book was on Kindle Unlimited rather than every author who has ever used the service. The study also reports self-published and traditionally published groups separately, so these categories should not be combined without knowing how the underlying sample was defined.
Earnings by genre
Genre differences were substantial among full-time authors in 2022. Romance and romantic-suspense authors had the highest listed median book income at $31,725. Their median combined book and author-related income was $37,000. Full-time graphic novelists had median book income of $15,000 and median combined income of $25,000.
Full-time mystery, thriller, and suspense authors had median book income of $10,000 and median combined income of $15,010. Literary-fiction authors had medians of $5,000 from books and $13,500 from combined work. The distinction between the two measures is especially visible in literary fiction, where the combined median includes $8,500 beyond the book-income median, without implying that every author earned that difference.
| Full-time author focus, 2022 | Median book income | Median combined income |
|---|---|---|
| Romance and romantic suspense | $31,725 | $37,000 |
| Graphic novels | $15,000 | $25,000 |
| Mystery, thriller, and suspense | $10,000 | $15,010 |
| Literary fiction | $5,000 | $13,500 |
| Biography | $3,500 | $9,200 |
| Literary works | $2,800 | $10,100 |
The study’s biography-focused full-time authors had median book income of $3,500 and median combined income of $9,200. Authors focused on literary works had median book income of $2,800 and median combined income of $10,100. These are medians for the named groups, not a ranking of the commercial value of every book in a genre.
Experience, backlists, and the earnings distribution
Publication experience was associated with different 2022 medians. Established authors, defined in the study as authors first published before 2019, had median book income of $2,485 and median combined book and non-book author-related income of $5,283. Newer authors, first published from 2019 through 2022, had median book income of $948 and median combined income of $1,200.
The study also compared established full-time authors with 2018 values adjusted for inflation to a 2022 baseline using a 13% CPI factor. Established full-time self-published authors’ median book income rose from $9,040 in inflation-adjusted 2018 dollars to $19,000 in 2022, a reported 110% increase. Their median combined book and non-book income increased 76% after the study’s inflation adjustment.
Established full-time traditionally trade-published authors saw median book income rise from $13,560 in inflation-adjusted 2018 dollars to $15,000 in 2022, an 11% increase. Their median combined book and non-book income decreased 7% after inflation adjustment. Among established Big Five-published authors, median book-related income fell from $16,950 in inflation-adjusted 2018 dollars to $15,000 in 2022, a reported 12% decline.
The distribution was wide even among established full-time authors. The bottom 50% had median book-related income of $1,300 in 2022, while the top 10% had median book-related income above $250,000. Because the top figure is stated as above $250,000, it is a threshold rather than an exact median. These distribution statistics also show why a single average or headline success story cannot represent a typical published author.
Demographic differences
When full-time and part-time authors were combined, White authors had median book income of $2,000 in 2022, compared with $1,200 for non-White authors. Their median combined book and non-book income was $5,283 for White authors and $4,500 for non-White authors.
The study also reports a comparison between White and Black authors. White authors had median book income of $2,000 versus $800 for Black authors. Median combined book and author-related income was $5,283 for White authors and $2,000 for Black authors. These figures describe differences in the survey’s reported medians; they do not establish why the differences occurred.
The share reporting non-book author-related income varied across the demographic groups listed in the study. It was 42% among Native American authors, 44% among White authors, 50% among Black authors, 56% among Latinx authors, and 60% among Asian American and Pacific Islander authors in 2022.
Authors meeting the study’s ADA-defined impairment measure had median book income of $1,000, compared with $2,000 for all published authors. Their median combined book and non-book income was $2,400, compared with $5,000 for all published authors. The impairment measure and the study’s terminology are retained here as reported by the Authors Guild income study.
How much income comes from authorship
The 2022 study indicates that published authors often relied on income beyond writing. Among authors with earnings, 53% earned non-book author-related income and 47% earned only book-related income. Authors who earned only book-related income had median book income of $1,200. Authors who earned non-book author-related income had median book income of $2,500 and median combined book and non-book income of $13,277.
Across all published authors, combined book and author-related income made up 38% of individual income on average in 2022. In the same year, 63% of published authors received 20% or less of their individual income from books and author-related work. These statistics measure dependence on author income, not the percentage of book sales paid as royalties.
The contrast was larger by work status. Thirty-two percent of full-time authors received 100% of their individual income from books and author-related work, compared with 3% of part-time authors. Among full-time authors whose books had been published by 2018 or earlier, 61% of individual income came from books and author-related work in 2022.
Taken together, the Authors Guild results describe a U.S. published-author market with wide variation: $970 in median book income for part-time authors, $31,725 for full-time romance and romantic-suspense authors, and more than $250,000 in median book-related income for the top 10% of established full-time authors. Each figure depends on the population, income definition, genre, and measurement period specified in the study.