Writing Statistics: Facts, Salaries & Industry Trends

Want to make a living writing?

Then you need to get serious about it. And that starts with being pragmatic.

Don’t buy into the starving artist archetype that has been endlessly romanticized in our culture since the late 18th century.

The truth is that there’s nothing glamorous in not being able to pay the rent, put food on the table, or keep the lights on.

So what are the financial realities of being a professional writer?

Here are the numbers.

Writing Industry Overview

Since 2011, the number of writers in the United States has increased by 8%, reaching 44,240 writers in 2020.

Interestingly, this means that there were 1,620 fewer writers than in 2019, making it the lowest number of writers since 2015.

It’s probably safe to assume that the Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to this decrease in the number of writers, especially given that it led to mass layoffs by the news media outlets that affected journalists and freelance writers alike.

Author Salary

Now that we have a better understanding of the writing industry as a whole, let’s take a closer look at published authors.

We don’t have a separate Bureau of Labor Statistics data for authors, so we don’t know what the average author salary is, but it doesn’t matter because the “average” is a meaningless number in long-tail distribution.

However, we do have some data on those extreme outliers that rake in a disproportionate amount of money, so let’s take a look at it, shall we?

Between June 2018 and June 2019, the top five wealthiest authors globally have earned a combined income of $235 million, with J. K. Rowling leading the pack with an income of $92 million.

Note that the income distribution isn’t normal at the top either, since Stephen King, the last on the list, earned “just” $17 million, which is 5x less than J. K. Rowling.