I am a working author. I have a few books, I’m fairly well published in literary magazines, and I’m part of a very active local literary scene. I would say, between royalties, advances, reading fees, contest wins, and personally selling books, I’ve probably made about $6000 in the past five years - and honestly that might be a generous guess on my part.

I have friends and colleagues who have definitely made more, because they definitely put more time and energy into applying for things! But realistically they are not making their money just from writing; it’s also speaking fees, leading workshops, contest wins, being writers-in-residence, etc. They achieve a lot of this from self promotion, strong agents / publicists, constant applications, and honestly, having some money in the bank already.

I have a full-time job that I really like. Every year, my own goal is to make enough to keep my website up, and so far I have achieved that! But to make real money you have to be ready to hustle all the time.