Author Income Report 2023 - What I Made As An Author Last Year
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Ever wished you could quit your job and make a full-time living as an author? Me, too! Let's see how close/far away I am from that ultimate author goal and check out my revenue for 2023 as an author.
What counts as author revenue... Only book-related line items like ebook, paperbacks, audiobooks and youtube income from my author channel.
What does not count as author revenue... Anything not related to books! A big pet peeve of mine is when authors claim to be full-time authors but the majority of their income is from coaching, editing services or something that has nothing to do with writing and selling their own books.
I'm all about side-hustles but unless you're ghost-writing fiction, then you're not a full-time author by my definition. Sure - You're a creative entrepreneur but you're not a full-time author.
So this video is all about the income I make from my books and talking about my books and writing on YouTube. I'm sharing actual dollars and not blowing you know what up your xyz with percentages and yes, I'm doing a full screen share so not faking the numbers here.
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Author Income Report 2023 - What I Made As An Author Last Year
What To Click - Tech Tips for Authors
Feb 3, 2024
This transcript was generated automatically by Spotify. Its accuracy may vary
0:00
Hi everyone and welcome to the first episode of the What to Click Tech Tips for Authors.I'm Lisa and this is actually an episode all about author income.So in 2023 I wrote nothing.I promoted nothing.And I guess I just kind of hope that the theory of passive income was true for my books and that people would just find them, discover them, and click and pay me money.
0:25
So let's look at all of the different streams of income that I had just for author related business items and go through how much that actually made when you do absolutely nothing.First up is Amazon.I made $160.69 and this is from having a trilogy, the three books inside the Cupcake series, plus the box set and also a short story for that series, The Witch Bears Prada and my old reverse harem Cinderella and her seven Guards.
0:54
So total that made $160.69 for the year Amazon Associates.Everyone talks about affiliate income and using your Amazon link I made $58 and as you can see none of these were on books.This is Netgear.
1:09
I had a quick 32nd video on how to hook this up and put a link in there.Also Cat 7 GB Ethernet.The Hallmark gift bags.So again, none of these.
1:25
One of these is my book.That's pretty much it.And nothing, nothing else over here.This is Barnes and Noble.Because Barnes and Noble, I lifted my books over there as well I made, but as you can these are year by year, so 00022.
1:44
I made some money, 2023 I made $2.85 and YouTube the channel you are possibly watching right now unless you're just on a podcast.I made $1382.17 for all of last year and it does say it's down 41% but everyone was down.
2:02
It was a weird year 2022, cause COVID all everybody's numbers were really high.And then the most popular like video that makes the most money is how to publish an audiobook, which is so old that video is like from I think 2017.That makes me the most money.
2:19
Find a Way Voices, which is now owned by Spotify.I made for all of 2023 $25.54 retail $70.04 for Library for a grand total of $95.58 for the year and then I also sell the Author Resource library and that has made me $282.
2:48
I had six sales for last year, so for 20/23 I made a grand total of $1981.29, which is a pretty good Starbucks money for me.And there are two types of authors in my mind.There is author A, which is definitely me, who I have a full time job or a business, or maybe you have a benefactor, may be known as a husband or a trust fund or something.
3:15
You're independently wealthy and you don't need to worry about the income from your author life, paying for rent, your bills, car payments, anything else.And you just write because you love it and it's more like a hobby.And if you make money, that's great.And if you don't, it's not too big of a deal.And that is 100% where I am right now.
3:33
Of course, I would love to increase my book sales and maybe have it be a full time like take over everything, but I'm just not there yet.That is author B when I say I have two author business plans and so I am definitely more familiar with the first one.
3:49
The second one is where it is the bulk of your income.And I see tons of people talking about how they're making millions of dollars from their books and they're kicking out a ton of inventory.They're doing an amazing rock star job at marketing and they are experts at paid ads and I think that is great.
4:05
And So what does that mean now overall for the year for me, I am 100% dedicated this year to creating content and I don't really mean creating content for marketing purposes.
4:22
I am saying creating content of actual books, manuscripts and finishing that.That is my #1 priority for the year.And just like last year, if I make any money for my books, that's amazing and great.But I am not trying to.So you might think, hey, I see you doing all these video podcasts over on your channel with other authors, and I'm not charging for that.
4:45
So I have for whatever reason, developed agoraphobia in the last year and a half.So many.Yeah, you're it's almost been a year now.It's also been two years and I think it's perimenopause.I'm not really sure.But all of a sudden I woke up and I was terrified of leaving the house and of going, like going to the mailbox was to me.
5:08
I thought I was going to die and I have no idea.It doesn't matter where it came from.I had this issue and I still am myself.I'm very extroverted.I love talking to people and meeting other authors.And so I thought, honestly, it would just get cured last year in 2023, but it did not.
5:28
And so we're now in 2024.I miss talking to people.I miss chatting with people.I miss honestly just getting to know new authors and networking.And I shouldn't say networking because it sounds so like, superficial.I like actually want to be friends with other authors and so I can't go to any of the conferences.
5:49
And I thought, well what's another way for me to eat authors?One, Molly and I are doing the cozy club getaway here locally in San Diego.I am so blessed and lucky that she is so nice that she is willing to Co host it with me here in San Diego.
6:07
And then two, the second part is that I thought, you know what?In between that I can still meet people virtually.I have a YouTube channel that talks all about cozy mysteries.And we used to do the monthly book club.We, I mean, I used to do it with Courtney, the Cozy Escape Book Club.
6:26
And we mostly just met other readers and it was the same readers every month, which is great.But I really just wanted to meet the authors and I would just send them like a random e-mail.Hey, we're reading your book, you know, will you give us a free copy?And that was kind of it.And I didn't get to chance to chat with them.
6:42
And so that's why I created the Cozy Mystery Mingle podcast.One, I think it is super helpful to other authors to have a platform to share on.And not everyone does video.I love doing video.Doesn't even matter if you two paid me nothing.
6:59
I just find it fun.So I just thought, this is a great chance for me to 1 be social and meet other authors without having to travel.And two, it's a great opportunity possibly for them to market or talk about their books.
7:15
So I think it's a win win for everyone.So that is 100% the only reason I'm doing that, in case you're like, well, where's the revenue line and the expectations from that?That is really just for me to, like meet people because I have been stuck in my house for so long.
7:31
In fact, like, I hope this gave you some ideas on books and you know, income.I know I'm always wondering what people are making and I am so grateful to anybody that shares any of their income reports.And I hope to do this every year.
7:47
So we'll see what the income report looks like for next year and looking forward to the next future episodes where I will actually be talking about tech.All right.Bye everyone.
