Making Money By Not Selling Books

A Literal Literary Loser Looks Lengthwise

No, this won’t be a post about how, like in “The Producers,” you can make more money not selling books than by selling them. Because, guess what, you can’t.

This will be a post about how you can make more money from your books, not by selling books.

I’ve written here about my best-selling, self-published, non-fiction title, “Getting Into NYC Kindergarten.” As of today, it’s earned me over $13,000 of pure profit, as I paid nothing to edit it, design cover art, format, or advertise it. I expect the book to continue selling for years to come (as long as I continue to update it every year in line with whatever changes NYC makes in its public school application process).

But where I’ve really made money from “Getting Into NYC Kindergarten” is in the workshops I hold, and the one-on-one private consults I do both on this topic, and on “Getting Into NYC High School.”

Over the years, I’d say I made ten times as much money talking about getting into NYC schools as I have writing books about getting into NYC schools. Yet, the books are the cornerstone of the entire operation.

The books brand and position me as an expert, so that I can then earn money from writing articles and speaking publicly on the topic.

Fiction, of course, is a different animal. My last book, “My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region,” has, as explained here, following the last royalty period, earned me $1,737.98. (Once again, since I went with a micro-publisher, I paid nothing to edit it, design cover art, format, or advertise it.)

I have, however, worked tirelessly to promote it. I wrote guest blogs, I started a YouTube channel, I spoke on podcasts, and I made Zoom and in-person book club appearances. So. Many. Zoom. And. Book. Club. Appearances.

Ninety percent of the time, I speak for free. As anyone who has ever heard me do it might suspect, I like talking. I do it for free constantly. But, every once in a while, the organization says that they pay an honorarium. Or they ask what my speaking fee is.

And then I quote them my speaking fee. And I say thank you for the honorarium.

Ninety percent of the time, I speak for free. But, every once in a while, I make more money speaking for one hour on the story behind the story of my books, than I did in my last royalty period. Sometimes, I even get lunch thrown in!

So far, when calculating the earnings on “My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region,” I haven’t been factoring in speakers’ fees. Maybe I should start.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!