I'm a full time writer, let's talk about my finances.

The creative community needs transparency

I always wanted to spend my life professionally writing, creating, telling stories.

I was told, repeatedly, by every sort of person, that that sort of life is not possible. I would need to make money in sensible, normal ways. I was told this by successful authors, by people who had nothing to do with the arts, by random people I had just met.

Obviously, the one that really fucked me off was listening to successful artists talk about how impossible it is to make money in their field. Some of my favourite writers have broken my heart by laughing at the implausibility of making money with books, whilst they … make millions with their books. Keep your day job. Writing can’t pay for your entire life. Says one of my favourite authors of all time, who is very very wealthy from their books.

I cannot tolerate it.

I swore, that when I did make a life filled with words and art and money, I would fucking talk about how I made it happen. I promised I would be transparent. I promised I wouldn’t shut down. I wouldn’t gatekeep my success. I promised I would bring others with me. Yes. This journey can be very hard. Yes, if you want it, you can make it work.

On that note, I told my community to ask me any question they wanted about mine and James’s finances as authors and creatives. This is a small insight into how we have made it work for us.

Q. How many sources of income do you have?

8 Sources of Income.

• Non-Fiction writing (traditional and self-published)

• Fiction (Self-published fiction novels in print and audio)

• Speaking gigs

• On-Demand Courses about creativity and writing

• Online group membership

• Online live classes

• In-person workshops

• Prints of my art

• I’m probably forgetting something

Q. What are your main business expenses?

Creatives can run lean businesses and can often be more profitable. Our costs are low compared to other kinds of businesses. Our revenue might look lower than a tech company, but we don’t take 10 years to become profitable.

Our main expenses are:

• Website hosting.

• Masterclass hosting.

• Two day a week assistant.

• Travel (for masterclasses, speaking, etc).

Q. Do we put super / retirement away?

I don’t at the moment but I want to. It’s on the to do list.

When we started building the business of being authors, we kept re-investing profit back into the business in order to build it. Now that I have a more stable situation it’s time for me to be a big girl and sort this out. That being said, I did have retirement savings from my “muggle” jobs I worked before making money from my art.

Q. Do you make money through IG or podcast?

I have never made money from social media or podcast. It’s not a priority for me right now. We don’t take ads for the podcast or for my gram! Instead, I have used those platforms as invaluable ways to build a connection and relationship to audience.

Q. Would you be able to live off book sales alone

This year, yes.

Next year, probably.

The year after that, I don’t know.

The beauty of multiple income streams means there is less pressure on my books to make lots of money. It gives me space. It gives my books space. It also allows me to be multidisciplinary and curious about other projects. I used to think all I wanted was to only write fiction. Turns out, I’ve got so many other things I want to make.

Q. Have you ever had no money

Yes. I’ve had less than no money. I’ve been in bad credit card debt during my early years of trying to take my writing seriously. I was waiting to be picked by a publisher, waiting for someone to tell me my art was worth money, whilst working as a waitress / random other jobs.

I am very privileged, in that I always had support systems around me that meant I could take risks and make mistakes, and know that I was never going to be in serious trouble. But I had months where I didn’t sleep thinking about the debt I wracked up .

Q. How do we manage taxes

We cry about them

But seriously, we employ accountants and book keepers, and then we cry about them too.

It is a fuck tonne of work (for James, who is in charge of this area), and it is one of the hardest parts of being a small business. We have found being authors, and being in e-commerce to be very challenging. A lot of accountants haven’t understood what we do, and it takes a lot of emotional resiliency. It is worth it though. Our art is worth it.

Q. How much money did you get for your We Need Your Art Advance?

I am someone who really wants to tell you the exact figures of my bank account. I crave transparency. I am also wary of protecting myself, and James in this conversation.

Here is what I am currently happy sharing.

I got a six figure book deal for We Need Your Art. 15% of that goes to our incredible agent. We also receive that money in four lumps over three years. One when I signed, one when I finished the manuscript, one when it comes out, and one a year after release. If you really wanna know how much I got, if you have a paid subscription to publisher’s marketplace you can usually figure these things out. ;)

Q. Do you have a steady income?

We make vastly different amounts of money each month. We often get big lumps of money from advances, from the inspired collective opening, or from other book and course launches. Some months we make much less, some months much more. But having the 8 different revenue streams, allow us to feel safe month to month. We also make sure that when we do have a bigger month financially, that the money goes towards supporting us throughout the year. We are very focussed on making sure that we are financially secure long into the future, so that we never have to stop doing what we love.

Q. How much money does your self pub make?

My self pubbed fiction is my most consistent form of income because we get regular pay outs. I make more on this than I did as a waitress.

My self-pubbed non fiction (we sell them on our own website) was my full time income for two years (I made more on this than I did waitressing or at my corporate job) but has taken up a lower % of income as I focus on traditional publishing.

Whilst neither would probably be able to support me on their own currently given I don’t live in a grungy sharehouse anymore, both my self pubbed fiction and non fiction play a significant part in me feeling financially stable as an author. I also know that this is just the beginning...

Please feel free to ask me more questions in the comments, I would love to continue this conversation.

Let’s fucking go artists. You bring so much value into this world, you deserve to be paid for it.

All my love

Amie

P.S And I’ve written a book about why we need you making stuff. It’s called We Need Your Art and the amazing Matt Haig, author of the Midnight Library, called it, “A battle cry for the creative spirit”. It comes out on the 11th of March. Preordering it means that more people will find it!