I'm often asked whether being an educational author is a good way to earn money. It's certainly good in one sense - I love the chance to communicate my ideas to other teachers. And there's obviously something extremely special and exciting about seeing your own book, with your own name on it, on the bookshelf in Waterstones. But a good way to make money? Don't be fooled by those Harry Potter style figures about the advances that fiction authors receive. I suspect if you calculated the hourly rate that most non fiction authors achieve, you'd be pretty shocked. When I first started writing teaching books, it was definitely for love and love alone. I had just left my first school, and I was burning with the desire to write a book for other new teachers, about how to survive that difficult first year. Luckily for me I had a bit of spare time between teaching posts, and I put that time to good use. I was waiting to start a job at an International School in Portugal, and it was a choice between sunning myself on a beach for six months, or putting pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard).
The money any author earns at first is, to be frank, fairly pitiful. Clearly with 16 books in print, I earn a fair bit more now than I did in the early years. But still, like most other non fiction authors, I have to do a variety of other jobs to pay the bills. Luckily for me, I love these other jobs too - delivering INSET, presenting programmes on Teachers' TV, writing articles for magazines, spending time in the classroom. All these come out of the 'name' I have created for myself by being a published author, so it certainly has a benefit in that sense. As a basic rule of thumb, most non fiction writers don’t make enough from their books to earn a living (most will do other jobs such as training and journalism, etc. as well). For your first book, you would probably expect a royalty of about 10-12% of the publishers’ net receipts. This is not 10% of the price of the book, but of what the publishers get for selling it. Most publishers will sell their titles at roughly 30-40% off the list price to book shops. So, a book of 200 pages might sell for say £15.99, but would only earn the publishers about £10, and consequently the author about £1. The average first print run for a teaching book is about 1,000 copies, which could take 1 – 2 years to sell. So there you have it – if you sell the entire print run you’d get about £1,000 before tax. Not quite in the J.K. Rowling league, is it?
Obviously the book you write may sell very well, and get re-printed quickly, but with teaching books this is not hugely likely. You do however continue to earn royalties while the book remains in print, which could be many years (but be aware that sales tend to tail off after an initial burst of interest). Royalties are usually paid 6 monthly, but because of the way publishers' accounting systems work you end up getting them 3 months after the time at which they were earned. If you are still keen to write a teaching book, despite everything you've read so far, put out some feelers first. Write a sample contents list, an outline proposal and the first 3 chapters, and then send this out to suitable publishers. You may get a contract at this stage, but make sure that you can complete the book within a set time frame (usually about 9 months from signature of contract).
What happens next? When do I see some £££??? Well, from submitting a final manuscript, to seeing your book on the shelves, is usually about 7 months. You should then add another 9 months to this before you’d expect to see any money (6 months royalties paid 3 months in arrears). So, if you finished and submitted a book in summer 2009, you could expect to get some money from it in late 2010. Here are my top tips for new authors:
- Read your contract: It sounds obvious, doesn't it? But in the excitement of receiving that first 'yes' from a publisher, it's mighty tempting just to scribble your name on the dotted line without even pausing to read through what you're signing. Yes, it is dull to read 16 pages of legalese, and you won't understand some of what you read. But take the time to do it, because that book of yours might just become a smash hit bestseller, and you could be signing away an awful lot of money.
- Be honest about submission dates: Teachers are very busy people. A book of 50,000 words takes a long time to write. You do the math. If you're in a high pressure, full time post and you have family commitments, it's gonna be tough, perhaps impossible. Don't promise to submit on a date that you're just not going to be able to make. Publishers rate those authors who actually submit their manuscripts on the date that was originally set. And if they like your approach, they are far more likely to commission you to write another book.
- Learn to type: This might seem like a weird addition to my 'top tips' list, but the fact that I can type at about 80 words a minute means this article has been written in a morning, rather than it taking me an entire day. Invest time in learning to type - as a writer, this is a skill that allows you to ply your trade.
- Get involved in the marketing: Once your book is on the shelves, seize every opportunity to help your publishers market your book. The more radio interviews, press articles, bookshop talks you do, the more likely you are to sell that first print run.
- Join theSociety of Authors: As soon as you've got something published (a full length book or a dozen articles), you are eligible to join. The SOA are brilliant at reading contracts and giving advice on what needs changing.
And finally, what happened to that first teaching book? Did it ever earn me more than the pittance that I've complained about in this article? Well luckily for me it is still in print, and still selling well. (You can get a copy for free if you sign up with theNUT.) And over the years that book has more than repaid the six months of time I could have spent on the beach. My best advice is to write because you want to communicate something new to teachers, rather than for the financial return. The money may come in time, but in the meantime bear in mind something that Robert Graves once memorably said: "There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money either."
