Chris, found this (I guess he checked his feed reader before I did) and it is quite educational.
1999: About $400, from Agent readers
2000: About $1000, from Agent readers
2001: About $1100, from Agent readers and a short story sale at Strange Horizons
2002: About $1000, from Agent readers
2003: About $6000, from Agent readers and from first part of advance for Old Man’s War
2004: About $5000, from Agent readers and from first part of advance for The Android’s Dream
2005: About $15,000, from second part of OMW advance, first part of The Ghost Brigades advance, advance for Agent to the Stars hardcover, and short story sale to Subterranean Press.
2006: About $67,000.
I had already begun to figure out something like this was true because a friend who introduced me to John C. Wright as fantasy writer (I already knew him for space opera), was excited to discover they both work for the same software company.
So remember to keep your day job!
Mark,
I’ve talked to published authors and some of them reach the seventh year (from the post above) money in the tenth year. I think you may have a shorter cycle because you have already been working at it for some time. Hang in there.
I’m hoping that I may reach that kind of money in my tenth or eleventh year.
Jim Irwin.
I really need to get off my butt and get working on my book for horse show dads. I’ve got the chapters outlined, but I’m totally procrastinating on the research. Right now I’m working on convincing myself that stalling for another horse show season will add depth to my observations…