Book royalties statistics show a highly uneven publishing economy. In 2022, the median book income was $2,000 for all surveyed authors and $10,000 for full-time authors, while established full-time authors in the top 10% had median gross book-related income above $250,000. These figures come from different author groups and should not be treated as a typical royalty rate or a guaranteed annual income.
Contents
- What authors actually earn
- Publishing route differences
- Genre and author-group medians
- Distribution and long-term trends
- Formats and ebook royalty terms
- Contracts and paid-publishing outcomes
What authors actually earn
The Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey reported a 2022 median book income of $2,000 for all surveyed authors, including part-time authors. Median combined book and other author-related income was $5,000. The broader measure can include income such as advances, royalties, licensing and subsidiary-rights fees, so it is not identical to royalties alone. Authors Guild, “Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey”
Full-time authors had higher 2022 medians: $10,000 in book income and $20,000 in combined book and other author-related income. Among full-time authors of commercial, non-academic books, the corresponding medians were $15,000 and $25,000.
The survey also shows why book income should not automatically be read as a writer’s complete livelihood. Fewer than one in five published authors received all of their individual 2022 income from book and author-related income. About 63% received 20% or less of their individual income from books and author-related work. These percentages describe participating U.S. published authors, rather than all people who write or hope to publish.
Established authors were especially divided by income level. The Authors Guild defines “established” in this analysis as first published in 2018 or earlier. Among established full-time authors in 2022, the top 10% had median gross book-related income above $250,000, while the bottom 50% had median book-related income of $1,300. Authors Guild, “2022 U.S. Published Author Income Study slides for website”
Publishing route differences
Publishing route is associated with substantial differences in median income, but the groups are not interchangeable. In 2022, full-time self-published authors had median book income of $12,800 and median combined book and other author-related income of $15,000. Full-time traditionally published commercial authors had median book income of $15,000 and median combined book and non-book author-related income of $20,500. Authors Guild, “Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey”
For authors publishing since at least 2018, the full-time self-published group had median income of $24,000 in 2022, compared with $13,700 in 2018. The period and group definition matter: this is a median for authors publishing since at least 2018, not a projection for every newly self-published author.
The Authors Guild’s study of established full-time authors also reported median book income of $19,000 for self-published authors and $15,000 for traditionally trade-published authors in 2022. Newer authors showed a different pattern. Full-time traditionally trade-published authors first published in 2019–2022 had median book income of $13,560, while full-time self-published authors in that newer group had median book income of $1,200. Authors Guild, “2022 U.S. Published Author Income Study slides for website”
| Full-time author group | 2022 median book income |
|---|---|
| Self-published, all reported full-time authors | $12,800 |
| Traditionally published commercial authors | $15,000 |
| Established self-published authors | $19,000 |
| Newer self-published authors | $1,200 |
| Newer traditionally trade-published authors | $13,560 |
The table compares survey medians, not royalty percentages. Book income can include advances and other rights-related income, and the established and newer categories measure different publication histories.
Genre and author-group medians
Genre differences were also large among full-time authors in the Authors Guild’s 2022 survey. Romance and romantic-suspense authors had median book income of $31,725 and median combined book and other author-related income of $37,000. These were the highest genre-specific medians listed in the supplied survey results.
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. The small difference between the genre labels and the combined-income measure is important: the latter includes other author-related income, not only money paid as book royalties.
The medians were lower for several other full-time author groups. Literary-fiction authors had median book income of $5,000 and median combined book and other author-related income of $13,500. Biography authors had median book income of $3,500 and median combined income of $9,200. Authors Guild, “Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey”
These results describe surveyed author groups in 2022. They do not establish that genre alone caused the income difference, because career length, output, readership, format mix, publishing route and other characteristics may differ among groups.
Distribution and long-term trends
The Authors Guild reported different inflation-adjusted trends from 2018 to 2022. Established full-time self-published authors increased median book-related income by 110%. Full-time traditionally published authors decreased median book income by 12%. For combined book and non-book author-related income, self-published full-time authors increased their median by 76%, while traditionally published full-time authors decreased theirs by 7%. Authors Guild, “2022 U.S. Published Author Income Study slides for website”
The study’s Big Five comparison was narrower. Established full-time Big Five-published authors had median book-related income of $16,950 in 2018, expressed in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars, and $15,000 in 2022. The two values are therefore expressed on a comparable 2022-dollar basis, but they remain survey medians for a defined author group.
The distribution among established full-time authors was very wide in 2022:
- The first book-income decile had median income of $100.
- The second decile had median income of $700.
- The fifth decile had median income of $7,500.
- The ninth decile had median income of $80,000.
Those decile figures make the median useful but incomplete. A midpoint does not describe the distance between low and high earners, and the top 10% result above $250,000 is not a typical outcome for a published author.
Formats and ebook royalty terms
Format availability was common across publishing routes, but the mix varied. In 2022, 81% of self-published authors had more than half to all of their books in ebook format. The same measure was 65% among hybrid-published authors, 62% among authors publishing on story or serialization platforms, and 55% among traditionally published authors. Authors Guild, “2022 U.S. Published Author Income Study slides for website”
Audiobook concentration was lower in the reported groups: 22% of traditionally published authors had more than half to all of their books in audiobook format, compared with 13% of self-published authors. These are format-mix percentages, not the share of income generated by each format.
Amazon’s KDP Digital Book Pricing Page lists a 35% royalty option for eligible ebook sales at the list price excluding VAT. It also lists a 70% option calculated on list price excluding VAT and delivery costs in eligible territories. KDP states that average ebook delivery costs under the 70% option are $0.06 per unit sold. Amazon KDP, “Digital Book Pricing Page”
As of July 7, 2026, KDP’s 70% ebook royalty price band on Amazon.com was $2.99–$12.99. These are platform terms in effect on that date, not observed author earnings and not terms that should be backdated to the 2018–2022 survey results.
Contracts and paid-publishing outcomes
A royalty percentage only becomes meaningful when its calculation base is clear. An Authors Alliance contract guide illustrates this with a $16 list price and 1,000 sales. A 10% published-price royalty produces $1,600. In the same example, $10 of net publisher income per copy and 1,000 sales produces $1,000 at a 10% net-income royalty. A 16% royalty on that $10 net publisher income produces $1,600. Authors Alliance, “Understanding and Negotiating Book Publication Contracts”
The same 2018 contract-guide example describes an escalation structure: 7.5% on the first 2,000 copies sold, 10% on the next 3,000 copies, 12.5% after the next threshold, and 15% after an additional 5,000 copies sold. These are contract illustrations, not market averages or a standard schedule for every publishing agreement.
Paid or hybrid publishing produced a different set of results in an ALCS 2022 report survey. ALCS found that 94% of writers who paid to have a book published made a loss. Median royalties were £68, while the median loss in a surveyed hybrid or paid-for publishing deal was £1,861. The highest reported loss was £9,900. ALCS, “Is it a steal? report: key findings”
The same ALCS survey reported an average of 67 books sold in the surveyed hybrid or paid-for deals, including books bought by the writers themselves. Also, 59% of writers said their paid-published book was unavailable in bookshops, supermarkets or retail outlets. These figures describe UK survey populations and paid or hybrid publishing; they do not describe conventional trade publishing.
For broader UK context, the ALCS’s 2022 authors’ earnings research reported median earnings from writing alone of £7,000 per year. The top 10% of authors in that survey received about 47% of the population’s total income. ALCS, “Why writers are at a loss for words”