Financial Transparency
I want to start by stating that I am doing okay. I write books on the side, which is why I can’t publish as many books per year as some other authors. I have a full time job that allows me to pay all my bills and finance this venture, even when it doesn’t turn a profit.
That being said, I feel like transparency is increasingly becoming an important thing in the book publishing industry. With the advent of gen AI and deep fakes, it is far too easy for an author to portray themself as something they’re not, and I want to never have my readers feeling disappointed in me by me not meeting their expectations.
Below, you will find a variety of metrics on my author business’s finances and where the money goes. This idea came from my experience with using Charity Navigator when I want to donate to a non-profit. I don’t know that this is anything anyone cares about, but here it is.
I will update this page sporadically, with it clearly stated when I updated it last.
Most Recent Update: 15JUN2025
Financial Goals
| Goal | Status |
| Make a profit for the year. | Unmet |
| Make a profit overall. | Unmet |
| Pay off all debts. | Unmet |
| Be a full time author. | Unmet |
Business Aspirations
These are sort of my high level goals for expanding my business. Some of them might not work out, some of them I have no idea when I’ll have the time to implement, and some I’m slowly but surely working through.
| Goal | Status |
|---|---|
| Put all my eBooks wide | In Progress |
| Create Special Editions | Researching |
| Create related products using my own artwork | Researching |
| Add a subscription to my website | On Hold |
| Link POD service to direct store | On Hold |
| Create audio options | On Hold (Hopefully start working on this later this year) |
| Create a storefront on Itchi.io | In Progress |
| Add serial to ScribbleHub | Researching |
| Work on reducing expenses | In Progress (Currently focused on saving money on my mailing list service provider) |
Gross Revenue Per Book Sale
Please note that gross revenue is not profit. These values are not exact. They will depend on the platform and size of the book. I’ve taken a sampling from Amazon KDP, Barnes & Noble Press, and Draft2Digital for eBooks and IngramSpark for print books.
Note: For the $2.99 price point, I only have books available on Amazon KDP, which is why there isn’t a range.
| Format | Retail Price | Gross Revenue |
| eBook | $0.99 | $0.35-$0.69 |
| eBook | $2.99 | $2.05 |
| eBook | $4.99 | $2.97-$3.49 |
| Paperback | $12.99-$18.99 | $1.92-$3.77 |
| Hardcover | $29.99-$34.99 | $4.30-$8.06 |
This does not include direct sales. Direct sales have the following formula:
Retail Price – (2.9%+$0.30) – Printing Cost
Printing Costs on my end are generally $4-8 plus shipping for paperbacks and $10-14 plus shipping for hardcovers. The high range are my newer books for paperbacks as they are printed on better quality paper, and my large print books for hardcovers because there contain more pages. Shipping depends on how many books I buy, and the cost can get higher if I need to rush the printing.
I generally make more money on direct print sales, but this, in part, compensates me for the time to package and ship orders.
Profit & Loss 2024
| Income | Cost of Goods Sold | Operating Expenses | Net Profit |
| $332.61 | $13.47 | $2040.77 | -$1721.63 |
| Operating Expenses | |
| 08 – Advertising & Promotion | $44.32 |
| 17 – Accounting Fees | $159.98 |
| 22 – Office Supplies | $5.71 |
| 27a – Computer – Domain Registration | $19.54 |
| 27a – Computer – Hosting | $582.49 |
| 27a – Computer – Software | $356.08 |
| 27a – Copyright Fees | $45.00 |
| 27a – Cover Art | $415.00 |
| 27a – Education & Training | $138.03 |
| 27a – Subscription Fees | $274.62 |
| Total Operating Expenses | $2,040.77 |
Notes on Operating Expenses:
- Software: Multiple graphics softwares (used for cover design, social media graphics, etc) and plugin for the website
- Hosting: I had a security issue with my site that year. Due to how poorly my old hosting provider handled this (and the price gouging involved), I switched hosting providers before the previous contract had expired. For reference, I spent $83.40 on web hosting in 2023. I think it will be a little over $100 in the future.
- Subscription Fees: BookFunnel and my mailing list service provider
Estimated Hourly Rate for 2024
Total Hours Worked: 276 hours 29 minutes
Hourly Rate: -$6.23/hour