Financial Appeal of the Genre
So, can you make money writing romance novels? Absolutely!
As for how much, well, that depends. A quick check of recent deals at Publishers Marketplace (
But new writers rarely sign those kinds of contracts. Often, a first book contract will come with a modest advance against earnings. An average advance for a series romance runs around $3,000 to $4,000. For a single title, the advances are generally higher, though they can be less for smaller publishers.
When most writers sign a publishing contract, they are guaranteed an advance, which is a good-faith payment made in anticipation of future royalties. The size of an advance can vary, as will the terms of the contract. Generally, an author can keep the advance, even if the publisher decides to cancel the deal through no fault of the author.
It can take a new author several years to build a sales record strong enough to allow her to quit her day job and write full-time. Still, for those who have the ambition and the talent, the sky is the proverbial limit.
So, just how popular is the romance genre? With over $1.4 billion in sales each year, romance novels easily outsell any other type of fiction in the United States.
Romance Statistics
