How much a Science Fiction novelist makes
Most people are pretty uptight about talking about how much money they make, but author John Scalzi wrote an entire entry going into extensive detail to how much money he has made writing science fiction: The Money Entry 2007: Science Fiction Income:
2006 was an interesting year for me in this regard, primarily because it’s the first year that, frankly, I’ve gotten any substantial amount of income from science fiction. To bracket this, allow me to note that I’ve been making income off of science fiction since 1999, which is the year that I first offered Agent to the Stars online as “shareware.” So from 1999 through 2006, here’s how the income came down. Note that I’m breaking down the income as to when it was actually received, ie., when I had cash in my hot little hands:
1999: About $400, from Agent readers
2000: About $1000, from Agent readers
2001: About $1100, from Agent readers and a short story sale at Strange Horizons
2002: About $1000, from Agent readers
2003: About $6000, from Agent readers and from first part of advance for Old Man’s War
2004: About $5000, from Agent readers and from first part of advance for The Android’s Dream
2005: About $15,000, from second part of OMW advance, first part of The Ghost Brigades advance, advance for Agent to the Stars hardcover, and short story sale to Subterranean Press.
2006: About $67,000.
As you’ll see from reading the entry, it took Scalzi several years to get to the point he’s at now. It merely shows that one shouldn’t go into science fiction writing expecting to make a full-time living. Even though Scalzi has managed to finally bring in a decent amount, he still has lots of writing jobs on the side in order to provide more security.
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Related posts: Have you broken the law and want to write a book about it? Don’t go to Canada, Wonderful story published at Strange Horizons, Interview with Jessica Stockton from The Written Nerd
