Let's Talk About Cash Baby

Surviving financially as authors...

Becs

I’m pretty certain that British people would talk about almost anything over money. Sex, death, our weird racist uncles, anything except what we earn.

This reticence to chat about money is exacerbated in an industry like publishing, where things are vague and hazy at the best of times. Plus, it is an industry that relies on hype. The Bookseller is full of six, seven, eight (!!) figure deals, and often the goal is to appear successful. It doesn’t quite go hand in hand with success, admitting that you’re too skint to buy the good bread from Tesco. We can, and should, do a whole other post on toxic positivity since it’s pretty rampant, but in this newsletter, we wanted to talk a little bit about money and the reality of living and working as an author. Emma and I are in quite different positions financially, but we’ve both agreed to be honest. So here goes!

Happy for him - honest!

I am not rich, I’ve never been rich, and I don’t have any particular desire to be rich, but I like to feel stable and secure, two things that I didn’t have growing up. When I got my first deal, I was working as a teacher on a pretty decent income. However, I’d had three maternity leaves in five years, so things were stretched. When I got my deal, we made the decision to sell our bigger house and downsize, which is probably the opposite of what you’re meant to do at thirty-odd, but honestly, it was a good move for us. It meant that I didn’t have the pressure of a huge mortgage, and I could afford to rely on writing.

Cute but expensive.

I think, though, the fact that I’m mainly a writer has led people to assume that I’m loaded. Even my parents still wonder aloud when the helipad will be installed. So let’s break it down a bit.

Both of my deals have come with an advance, which I’m incredibly grateful for. For anyone new to the business, an advance is a lump sum your publisher gives you, normally broken into several payments (in my case, six). For context, I had several offers for my first book, and the lowest was £1500. I don’t think getting an advance always guarantees you a big lump sum payment, and even with bigger advances, it’s generally paid over a couple of years and we lose 20% to our agents (I’m happy to pay this as they work SO hard) and some to tax (I pay my tax weekly so that I don’t feel it so much). Still, this means that I get lump sums a couple of times a year and will do until 2026 (when I’ll need to try and get another deal). I put this money in a savings account and pay myself a set amount each month.

I also do some teaching, editing, and mentoring. From this and my advance payments, I take around £ 1,500 a month, which is probably isn’t much! I also get maintenance money for my children, and child benefit. I can manage because my outgoings are very low. My bills come to about £700 a month, I live in Bradford (which is cheaper), and my main expense is my kids! I’ve also chosen not to do/ have other things so that I can have this lifestyle. I’m doing what I love, so it’s worth the sacrifice for me.

Having said all that, I think it’s really important to talk about the privilege that exists in publishing. Average author earnings are £7000 a year, but average household earnings for those same authors are over £80,000. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s often the case that authors rely on another more stable income (usually from a spouse or partner) to survive. I don’t have that, and it leaves me feeling financially vulnerable. I come from a family who don’t have much money. If I don’t earn from my writing, I won’t have any. It’s as simple as that. For this reason, I’d ideally like to work a regular job a couple of days a week, to give me some stability. It’s just tricky balancing that against childcare. It’s no surprise to me that less than 1% of authors are single parents with writing as their main source of income. It’s no surprise, but it makes me feel like a bit of an outsider.

I do feel so fortunate, though, to work with a publisher who understands this. My editor really does get it. She once sent me an advance payment a couple of weeks early because it was Christmas and she thought the money would help (it did!) I’ve said this before, but the author-editor relationship is so key in my opinion.

My perspective is that of someone who doesn’t have a financial safety net, either from family or another income. I was asked at an event once if I ever got writer’s block and I said that I couldn’t afford to get it. I need to write to live, and that pressure to create can be tricky. But at the same time, I wouldn’t change anything about the choices I’ve made. I’m happy with where I’m at, (though I am someone who would realllyyyy appreciate a six, seven or eight-figure deal – if we could all manifest that, please). I do believe that knowledge is power and control, though. So, I hope this is helpful for anyone wondering about making a living as an author!

Emma

Finances…oooh that tricky little thing that is actually so HUGE.

Let me start by saying that when I first started writing, I was in a very “normal” job/life. After studying law at university in Aberdeen, I was on the career path to becoming a fully-fledged lawyer/businessperson, and I enjoyed parts of it; the routine, the fast pace, the collaboration, the banter, the PEOPLE basically. I really miss it sometimes.

But what I realised after the birth of my first child was that I also missed creativity; all the sparks that began in childhood for me. That’s why every day for about two years after Flora’s birth, I would sit down around 7pm each night and write for an hour. During that time, Ben (husband) would sort the dinner and assist with extra wakings so I could have this “creative time”.

And that’s all it was for a period – a desire to write a book, while I earnt real money another way.

Then, to cut a very long story short, I got a big deal with Germany (six figures), a couple of years after having my second child. Now, this was during covid, so I was at home with my girls by this point anyway. I never “left” my job in law; I was out of it already while I looked after our two small kids. It was a decision I jointly made with my husband during the first lockdown, as it wasn’t tenable looking after them while we were both working and I wanted to be with them too. I know lots of other women ended up falling out of employment during this time too.

But basically, that six figure deal from Germany (and smaller ones from the UK and other European countries after) allowed me the space to write for a couple of years burden free. But as with anything, advances don’t last forever and they often don’t continue in the exact same way either.

For us as a family, however, it’s worked in the past five or years or so for me to continue being a part time writer and part time mum regardless of what I earn. I write when they’re in care and in the evenings, but the rest of the time I’m “on hand” for all child stuff.

Yes, I have made decent amounts of money from books/foreign deals and movies options during this time, but not ALL the time. It’s a very unpredictable business and I would be lying if I said this felt like a stable career path for me right now. It’s not, but I love it too much not to try. I would love to eventually say I could comfortably live off books, but there’s a good chance I’ll take a part time gig to support my writing in the meantime a) for income and b) for sanity.

We’re lucky that my husband has a much more stable gig and we have savings between us, allowing us to do this upcoming house move/renovation, but I’m still set on being a solid contributor to finances going forwards.

My main advice in writing is DON’T QUIT THE DAY JOB, because as I said above, I didn’t. I fell out of it due to numerous factors. And yes, it’s given me the luxury of time to write lots of material, which has been excellent training. I’ve been very privileged, and I know that. But that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with only writing forever more – I’ve got lots of other sides to me, and as wonderful and exciting as writing is, I’d also like to have more people contact in the future. So, what I’m saying is let’s watch this space and see what I do next.

Every day is a new chapter.