: Re: How long should it take to write 100k words? 100,000 words makes a novel. For a perfectionist each line is poetry. How long should it take to write a novel? Not a bestseller. Just enough

@Courtney562

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I'm addressing publication on Kindle only, as that's the economic model I'm familiar with at this time.

My partner is an established author, and has published four long novels this calendar year, totaling nearly five hundred thousand words. That works out to around fifty thousands words per month, including rewrites, editing, etc. Published on Kindle at very competitive pricing with Kindle Unlimited enabled, that rate produces a living income (on average -- of course that has peaks after a release and valleys if it's been 2-3 months since the last book) -- but we live in the country, and own our home free and clear. Generally, it's the back list that pays the bills in slow months; it's the new sales that pay for things like computer upgrades, car repairs, and so forth.

To make enough to live in the city, you'd either have to write in a less competitive genre, maintain sales numbers at higher pricing, have higher Kindle Unlimited numbers, or live more frugally than we do (I also work full time, which gets past the slow months), or a combination of more than one of these. And you can't count on a living income until you have a back list that provides some sales in months when you don't have a release -- around five novels seems to be the minimum.

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