How many copies does the average kids book sell?

Children’s books are always popular with new parents. Many children’s books have launched the writing careers of several authors, like Robert Munsch and Mo Willems.

So how much money can you make from a children’s book? Here’s an overview of the median and average incomes for authors in the United States.

Children’s Book Author Salary

There are a few different statistics regarding the salaries of children’s book authors. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2020 median pay of all authors and writers is around $67,120.

Unfortunately, this statistic includes several categories, such as copywriters or magazine editors. This means it doesn’t give us the full picture when it comes to authors of children’s books specifically.

To answer the question, “How much do children’s book authors make,” it’s best to look at statistics from the authors themselves.

A survey conducted by The Author’s Guild found that the median income of full-time book authors in 2017 was only $20,300, with 18% making nothing from their publications.

In addition, authors of children’s fiction were near the lower end of the spectrum, with a reported median income of $5,970 out of those who end up making money from their publications. If including those who make nothing, the median drops to $1,770. 

Factors That Affect Income

Of course, there are many factors that may affect the overall income of a children’s book author. While not all these factors carry the same weight, they’re important when considering if becoming an author is right for you.

Location

It may not seem like it at first, but location has somewhat of an impact on the amount an author makes. So, how much do children’s book authors make based on where they live?

According to recent BLS data, larger states such as New York, California, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania have the highest number of authors.

One reason for this is that many traditional publishers operate in these states, such as Penguin Random House or HarperCollins. In states like this, writers of all backgrounds make more, with writers in New York making upwards of $95,880 on average. 

Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing

With traditional publishing, a publisher may offer an advance of $5,000 and 5% royalties on sales. In this case, we’ll say that the author is also the illustrator of the children’s book.

If the book costs $15, the author makes about 75 cents per sale. A relatively popular children’s book may sell 5,000 copies, which generates about $3,750. In total, the author makes $8,750 off one book.

Self-publishing is a little different. If an author prints their own books using a print-on-demand service, such as IngramSpark or Amazon, they don’t get an upfront advance.

However, they retain more royalties from overall book sales, sometimes as much as 70%. The only catch is that they must market the book on their own, which may cost time or money. 

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If you have a passion for storytelling and want to know more about publishing children’s books, enroll in our Writing Stories for Children course today!

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About 50% of picture book authors said their publisher provided very little or no assistance marketing their book. These percentages are almost identical for large and small houses alike. However, at smaller houses is authors were slightly more likely to say their publisher provided either "A ton" or "A great amount" of marketing help.

Did this translate into sales?

• The average (mean) number of copies sold per Big Five debut was 41,375*

• The average (mean) number at smaller advance-paying publishers was 12,340

*The averages at the Big Five publishers were skewed by one huge selling title. If I remove the upper outlier, the average for Big Five publishers is 17,841.

Let's slice the data another way and look at median sales. (That's the middle-most sales.)

• The median sales of debut picture books at Big Five publishers was 10,000 copies.

• The median sales at smaller advance-paying publishers was 5,000

• The median sales at no-advance publishers was 2,000

Big Five Authors usually sold more titles than authors at smaller houses, regardless of their level of perceived marketing assistance. This should come with a huge disclaimer that there are many types of small publishers and some non-Big Five publishers are quite large. Still, even authors at Big Five publishers who said their publisher offered "no" marketing support, usually out-performed peers at smaller houses. But, these authors did not usually sell as many copies as peers with more marketing assistance from their Big Five publisher.

#6: How many drafts did you write of your debut picture book before it was accepted for publication?

14.5% of authors wrote more than 20 drafts of their book before it was accepted for publication; however, most authors (56.7%) wrote 2-9 drafts.