Lately, I’ve been talking with a writer who recently won an award in Spain for his latest novel.
He already has more than ten books published, mainly in South America, and a few in Spain as well.

His most recent work is about child soldiers in Colombia, and he submitted it to a literary contest in Spain, where he won first prize. It was a small competition, and the main prize was having the book published by a mid-sized publishing house in Spain.

In the publishing world, there are many middlemen involved. To name a few, you start with the author, then there may be a literary agent who “helps” the writer present or sell the work to publishers. The publishing house is another party involved, and finally, there are the bookstores.

An average writer earns around 10% of book sales. But in most cases, they don’t receive that money until a year after the book has been published. To keep the math simple: if a book costs around 20 EUR in a bookstore, the author will receive roughly 2 euros per copy sold.

The most unfair part or where the numbers stop making sense is when the publisher pressures or forces the writer to actively participate in promoting the book; in other words, traveling to different book fairs across Spain, where the writer has to cover all expenses out of pocket.

My friend has already attended three events in different cities. Traveling frugally, each trip has cost him an average of around 360 EUR between transportation, hotels, food, etc.

The first print run of his latest novel is only 500 copies. That’s normal for an average writer. Keep in mind that nearly 50% of published books don’t sell a single copy.

Even if they manage to sell all 500 copies, the royalties he receives a year later won’t even cover the promotional expenses.

I understand that if the book becomes successful, they’ll print more editions and the promotional costs will no longer be part of the equation, but that only happens in very rare cases.

So how do writers actually make a living? Has anyone here had experience self-publishing a book? What solutions or ideas do you have to avoid so many middlemen?