What do you need to write a book?

I just received a long email message from a writer who'd love to write a book, but she thinks she's too young.

Here's part of my response:

The beauty of writing books is that there are no restrictions as to age, sex, income, education, or personal experience. Teens have written books, and so have older folks.
A publisher only cares about what's on the page, so anyone can write a book, and your only limits are those you put on yourself.


If you want to
write a book, you can.

How much money can you make when you write a book?

With my new author's membership site launching, I've had several messages asking this very question, so let's take a stab at answering it.

Brenda Hiatt has a
"show me the money" section on her site which is well-researched and accurate. For example:

Romance novels, for Avon/ HarperCollins earn out at:Average advance (first book): $13,500 Average advance (subsequent books): $24,000 Advance range: $3500 - $100,000 Standard royalty percentage: 8% Average earn-out: $26,000 Range: $7000 - $100,000


A small advance for a nonfiction book would be $20,000. Of course, your advance may be much more, depending on the projected sales and how well your agent negotiates.

There are many, many variables when you write a book. At the upper end of the pay scale, you've got JK Rowling, who's making billions from her Harry Potter series and the spin offs.

At the other end of the pay scale, you have authors who make a few thousand per book.

Publisher's Marketplace reports on book deals daily, in their Publishers Lunch.

So, how much can you make? The short answer is that it depends on the book. It's the long answer too, because as stated, there are many variables.

On my new membership site, we cover researching book deals and researching the market for YOUR book before you start writing. There's no point in writing a book for which there's no market. So if you're interested in
writing a book and making money from it, join.

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Enjoy. :-)