High-End Earners

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, independent writers with the highest earning potential can expect to earn a median salary of approximately $93,420 per year, as calculated in May 2009. The average hourly wage is set around $44.91 for high-end earners in the industry. This high-end average includes not only authors but artists and performers as well. The top-paying state for the industry is California, with a top annual median wage of $42.11 per hour and yearly earnings around $87,600.
  
  

Median Author Salary

• The National Salary Data listed on PayScale lists the average author salary, tallied in December 2010, as being between $30,678 and $71,045 per year, with the middle 50 percent earning less than $50,000 per year. Factors taken into consideration for the average earner include bonuses, commission, profit-sharing and advances, but not every author receives an advance when her novel is accepted for publication by a publishing house. The growing number of small-press and electronic publishers is expected to lower these numbers further, as these companies have fewer resources to offer authors than large-scale publishers.
  
  

Experience and Education

• Previously published authors may expect to see higher earnings when new books are picked up for publication, with prior sales and popularity factoring heavily into advance offers. For authors who are just beginning their career, a background education in journalism or English and creative writing may prove helpful when setting out to publish shorter work with magazines and online venues. The earning potential for short-story publication continues to drop due to online and electronic publication.
  
  

Self-Publication

• Authors often take advantage of electronic publishing venues such as Amazon and Smashwords to self-publish their own work and cut out the middleman so they can receive higher royalties. On the other hand, the average self-publishing author reported less than $10,000 in net profit in 2008. Supplemental income earned from freelance writing opportunities may factor heavily into the average salary for self-published authors who earn more than $10,000 per year.