Authors / Ghost writers / Publishing

I've seen several posts from authors on this forum, both self-published and otherwise. I've also seen posts from people who appear to be invloved with (or who have connections with) the publishing industry.

Two simple questions:

1. realistically, how much can a better known author (can I mention C.G.M) expect to make from a single novel here in Thailand?

2. how expensive are ghost writing services here in Thailand (assuming such services do in fact exist)?

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A lot ghosts here in Thailand maybe some also write

That's like asking, what's the price of a car?

That's like asking, what's the price of a car?

More like... what's the price of something on wheels....

Authors don't make much from a single first novel in Thailand. Most authors need to write four or five novels before they are comfortable and ready to write the one that will bring in the bucks. Most first books usually earn out the advance or break even in sales terms if they are any good.

I've written a couple of ebooks (through a publisher) and see an income of about 50 dollars a month from those. This is probably about average for a low list author such as myself. I sell some short stories overseas to magazines and realize a few extra bucks now and again. I haven't gone the self-published route yet because a) the market is saturated in Thailand with so many titles and I feel it can be damaging to a writers career to have a sub standard product on the market. Only the very best writers can write and see success without an editor, sales team, distribution network etc.

As for the better known authors the ones making the real money have contracts with western publishers. Stephen Leather is up in the clouds as far as sales goes. He got into the ebook thing at the right time and sells I would say up to ten thousand titles a month. Also John Burdett has made some serious dough with his Bangkok Eight books although I think he should perhaps try to write something different to capitalize fully on his fame.

CPM is a self-publisher author with about twentry books in print, some in several languages. He sells around a thousand titles a month (maybe more) and does well enough to live comfortably in Thailand by writing fiction.

The rest of the writers I can think of (David Young's, David Barretts etc) have another source of income. Work, pension, etc.

Ghost writing? I do not know of anybody doing this in Thailand. There's hundreds of writers here and if they are serious then they normally have about five projects on the go. To drop everything and write something for someone they would need to see some payment up front. Be wary of folks who claim they can edit / write. Make sure you have read what they have published previously.

My advice is to not see writing fiction as a quick way to making money. It is many things but not that.

Why ?...are you thinking of putting a collective works of your troll posts in print ?

Authors don't make much from a single first novel in Thailand. Most authors need to write four or five novels before they are comfortable and ready to write the one that will bring in the bucks. Most first books usually earn out the advance or break even in sales terms if they are any good.

I've written a couple of ebooks (through a publisher) and see an income of about 50 dollars a month from those. This is probably about average for a low list author such as myself. I sell some short stories overseas to magazines and realize a few extra bucks now and again. I haven't gone the self-published route yet because a) the market is saturated in Thailand with so many titles and I feel it can be damaging to a writers career to have a sub standard product on the market. Only the very best writers can write and see success without an editor, sales team, distribution network etc.

As for the better known authors the ones making the real money have contracts with western publishers. Stephen Leather is up in the clouds as far as sales goes. He got into the ebook thing at the right time and sells I would say up to ten thousand titles a month. Also John Burdett has made some serious dough with his Bangkok Eight books although I think he should perhaps try to write something different to capitalize fully on his fame.

CPM is a self-publisher author with about twentry books in print, some in several languages. He sells around a thousand titles a month (maybe more) and does well enough to live comfortably in Thailand by writing fiction.

The rest of the writers I can think of (David Young's, David Barretts etc) have another source of income. Work, pension, etc.

Ghost writing? I do not know of anybody doing this in Thailand. There's hundreds of writers here and if they are serious then they normally have about five projects on the go. To drop everything and write something for someone they would need to see some payment up front. Be wary of folks who claim they can edit / write. Make sure you have read what they have published previously.

My advice is to not see writing fiction as a quick way to making money. It is many things but not that.

Excellent post. Thanks very much.

I'm not aiming to do an e-book. I have in mind a story which (IMO) parallels The Da Vinci Code. But it's a Da Vinci Code for Thailand. Written properly, it could be published.

Think:

1. historical research

2. lost treasure / fabled treasure

3. mathematical puzzles / secret codes / treasure maps

4. an onus on -- how to say this -- the female, or strong female characters

And at all times refreshingly free of:

1. prostitutes / prostitution / go-go bars

2. Thai mafia

3. police corruption

4. Russian mafia

You say (and I quote) "CPM is a self-publisher author with about twenty books in print". Are you referring to Christopher G Moore? Note the "G" instead of your "P".

If it's okay with you, I'll make a note of your username and maybe get back to you at some point in the future.

Good luck with your own stuff, btw!

Why ?...are you thinking of putting a collective works of your troll posts in print ?

I might write a biography of your life. On reflection, I think there's enough material there to span .......... 2 pages?

But hey -- that was rude. I'm sorry. Let's aim for three pages instead.

Why ?...are you thinking of putting a collective works of your troll posts in print ?

I might write a biography of your life. On reflection, I think there's enough material there to span .......... 2 pages?

But hey -- that was rude. I'm sorry. Let's aim for three pages instead.

I would suprised if you could fill 2 pages after all I am EX-SAS, with a short stint in MI6, therefore if I told you anything, I would have to kill you..

Authors don't make much from a single first novel in Thailand. Most authors need to write four or five novels before they are comfortable and ready to write the one that will bring in the bucks. Most first books usually earn out the advance or break even in sales terms if they are any good.

I've written a couple of ebooks (through a publisher) and see an income of about 50 dollars a month from those. This is probably about average for a low list author such as myself. I sell some short stories overseas to magazines and realize a few extra bucks now and again. I haven't gone the self-published route yet because a) the market is saturated in Thailand with so many titles and I feel it can be damaging to a writers career to have a sub standard product on the market. Only the very best writers can write and see success without an editor, sales team, distribution network etc.

As for the better known authors the ones making the real money have contracts with western publishers. Stephen Leather is up in the clouds as far as sales goes. He got into the ebook thing at the right time and sells I would say up to ten thousand titles a month. Also John Burdett has made some serious dough with his Bangkok Eight books although I think he should perhaps try to write something different to capitalize fully on his fame.

CPM is a self-publisher author with about twentry books in print, some in several languages. He sells around a thousand titles a month (maybe more) and does well enough to live comfortably in Thailand by writing fiction.

The rest of the writers I can think of (David Young's, David Barretts etc) have another source of income. Work, pension, etc.

Ghost writing? I do not know of anybody doing this in Thailand. There's hundreds of writers here and if they are serious then they normally have about five projects on the go. To drop everything and write something for someone they would need to see some payment up front. Be wary of folks who claim they can edit / write. Make sure you have read what they have published previously.

My advice is to not see writing fiction as a quick way to making money. It is many things but not that.

Excellent post. Thanks very much.

I'm not aiming to do an e-book. I have in mind a story which (IMO) parallels The Da Vinci Code. But it's a Da Vinci Code for Thailand. Written properly, it could be published.

Think:

1. historical research

2. lost treasure / fabled treasure

3. mathematical puzzles / secret codes / treasure maps

4. an onus on -- how to say this -- the female, or strong female characters

And at all times refreshingly free of:

1. prostitutes / prostitution / go-go bars

2. Thai mafia

3. police corruption

4. Russian mafia

You say (and I quote) "CPM is a self-publisher author with about twenty books in print". Are you referring to Christopher G Moore? Note the "G" instead of your "P".

If it's okay with you, I'll make a note of your username and maybe get back to you at some point in the future.

Good luck with your own stuff, btw!

Yes G rather than P.

And I also named Dean Barrett as David Barrett.

It was early.

Having the idea for a story is the easy part. Spending years putting that idea into something saleable is the tough part.

No author is going to write a book based on anothers idea and share the profits. Unless that other person is David Beckham or Johnny Depp.

Good luck with it. The Da Vinci was a poorly written book in many ways, but boy was it a page turner.

I note your posting guidelines, surely you have disqualified yourself from your own topic?