How much do authors make per book?
Earnings are royalty rate times price times copies, minus costs — and the rate depends entirely on the road you take. A traditionally published author typically earns a single-digit to low-double-digit percentage of a book's price; a self-published author keeps a far larger share per copy and carries every cost.
Work it out yourself, free
The Reckoning →Free: cost every edition of your book and see the break-even copies at a glance.
The arithmetic, honestly
Self-published e-books on the major storefronts commonly earn 70% of list price inside a set price band, and a much lower share outside it — confirm the current band with the storefront itself, as terms change.
Print earns less per copy because printing is deducted first. Audio royalty shares vary by distributor and by whether you granted exclusivity.
Traditional contracts pay a royalty percentage against an advance, which must be earned back before further money arrives.
Where audio changes the sum
Audio commonly carries a higher retail price than the e-book, so each sale is worth more. Owning your audio edition outright means that price is yours to keep rather than to share.
Production here is a one-time cost priced at 7.000000000000001% of word count for audio and 12% for a film book — a fixed number you can set beside your expected royalty per copy and decide for yourself.
Asked and answered
- How many copies do I need to sell to break even on an audiobook?
- Divide your production cost by your royalty per audio sale. The Reckoning does this arithmetic for you from your own word count.
- Is an advance better than self-publishing?
- It is money sooner and rights surrendered. Self-publishing is money later and rights kept. Neither is universally right.
Also asked
Every answer in the hall
- How much does it cost to make an audiobook?
- What is a film book?
- How long is an audiobook by word count?
- Book trailers: how do you make one, what does it cost, and how is it different from a film book?
- How many voices does an audiobook need?
- How do you turn a book into a video?
- Can I narrate my own audiobook?
- How long does it take to make an audiobook?
- How do you make an audiobook?
- Should I use ACX or a professional audiobook producer?
- How much does a film book cost?
- How do I get my audiobook on Audible and Spotify?
- What does audiobook production for indie authors involve?
- How much does an audiobook narrator cost?
- How do I record an audiobook?
- How do I publish an audiobook?
- What do book marketing services actually do?
- How do I self-publish a book?
- How many words are in a novel?
- How do I copyright a book?
- What is BookTok?
- How long does it take to write a book?
- How do I find the best narrator for my audiobook?
- How do I get reviews for my book?
- What should be on my book launch checklist?
- How do I write a book blurb?
Strength and Solidarity LLC — 27 answers kept in this hall