The income of novelists is usually calculated from the following aspects: 1. royalties: Novelists usually write novels as a profession, so royalties are one of the most important sources of income for novelists. The composition of the royalties may include royalties, royalties, printing fees, etc. The specific proportion and amount may vary according to the type of novel, publishing channel, reader group, and other factors. 2. Revenue from publishing: If the novel is published and sold, the novelist can earn income from the publication. This included royalties, sales commissions, and the like. 3. Online income: If the novel is purchased by an online platform and displayed publicly, the novelist can earn online income from it. This included website traffic commissions, advertising fees, and so on. 4. Other income: The novelist may also receive income from other sources such as collaboration with the media, authorized works, lecture income, etc. It should be noted that the income of novelists may vary according to personal circumstances, genre of works, market conditions, and other factors. Therefore, novelists needed to constantly create and improve their popularity and the quality of their works to attract more readers and income.
Generally speaking, online novels, gifts, copyright revenue, advertising revenue, and so on. The revenue from the service was the revenue generated by the reader's access to the novel through the membership service provided by the platform. Under normal circumstances, web novels would only be popular. Tipping income refers to the income generated by readers through the platform (such as RMB, USD, etc.) when reading novels. The income from tips was usually calculated based on a certain percentage of the tip amount. The copyright income referred to adaptation, translation, and the sale of the adaptation copyright. The advertising revenue referred to the advertising revenue generated. It should be noted that the above revenue calculation method is not fixed and may change due to factors such as platform policies and reader behavior. At the same time, some of the income had to be paid personal income tax and other taxes.
Online novels included the revenue from the readers, chapter tips, and advertising. The following are some common calculations: 1. Contribution income: Web novels. The cost of the book was usually calculated based on the number of readers who had read it. The higher the number of users, the higher the income. Generally speaking, the author's fee was calculated based on the number of chapters, and the income of each chapter was also calculated based on the number of chapters multiplied by the number of chapters. Chapter tips: If the reader gives a tip while reading the novel, the author will calculate the chapter income based on the amount of the tip. The amount of the tips would usually be combined with the fees of the authors according to a certain ratio. 3. Advertising revenue: Some online novel platforms would provide authors with opportunities for advertising revenue. The author's income would be calculated based on the number of clicks on the advertisement. Generally speaking, the author would deduct the advertising fee from the revenue based on the ratio of the number of clicks to the advertising fee, and then deduct the platform fee to obtain his actual income. It was important to note that different online novels 'actual income would be affected by many factors, such as the number of readers, the type of work, the platform policy, and so on.
The top ten online novelists in 2020 were as follows: First place was Tang Sanshao, with royalty income of 110 million yuan; Second place was Tian Can Tudou, with royalty income of 46 million yuan; Third place was Chen Dong, with royalty income of 38 million yuan; Fourth place was Skeleton Elf, with royalty income of 28 million yuan; Fifth place was Skyscraper, with royalty income of 21 million yuan; Sixth place was Misty Rain Jiangnan, with royalty income of 20 million yuan. Seventh place was Dance, with a royalty income of 16 million RMB; eighth place was Yue Guan, with a royalty income of 15 million RMB; ninth place was Beacon Fire Play, with a royalty income of 14.5 million RMB; tenth place was Wandering Toad, with a royalty income of 14.2 million RMB. In addition, in 2020, the highest monthly remuneration for a single novel was 4.82 million yuan, and there were many leading writers who earned more than 10 million yuan a year.
There were many ways to calculate a writer's income. ** 1. Calculating the remuneration of the author ** The publishing firm would take into account the quality, length, economic value, and other factors of the work, and pay the author a one-time fee to buy out all the rights to the work. This was the calculation method of outright remuneration. The one-time fee the author received was the income. ** 2. Royalty calculation ** 1. ** Basic Royalty Calculation ** - Royalty = book price x number of copies x royalty rate. For example, if a book is priced at 99 yuan, the number of copies released is 10000, and the royalty rate is assumed to be 10%, then the royalty income = 99×10000×10% = 99000 yuan. 2. ** Royalty calculation for different publishing situations ** - If the same work is published under different circumstances: - Every time an individual published the same work in the form of books or newspapers, regardless of whether the publishing unit paid the remuneration in advance or in portions, or paid the remuneration after reprinting the work, the income from the remuneration shall be combined and levied individual income tax on a one-time basis. - If the same work is published, published, or reprinted (revised) in two or more places and the remuneration is obtained, then the income obtained in different places or the reprint (revision) income can be calculated according to the income of the two places or more. - If an individual's work is serialised in a newspaper, all the remuneration obtained from the serialisation shall be combined into one time, and individual income tax shall be levied according to the provisions of the tax law. The income from publishing a book after it is serialized, or the income from publishing a book before it is serialized, shall be regarded as the remuneration for republishing the book, and the individual income tax shall be levied separately. In addition, writers might have other sources of income, such as income from adaptation rights, overseas copyright income, lectures, signing events, and other activities. For online writers, only about 2% of the writers on Qidian platform earned more than 10,000 yuan a month. At the same time, the author had to pay taxes according to the regulations. The proportional tax rate of 20% was applied, and the tax amount was reduced by 30%. The actual tax rate was 14%. The calculation method was: 1. If the income does not exceed 4000 yuan each time, the amount of tax should be paid =(the amount of income each time- 800)×20%×(1 - 30%). 2. If the income is more than 4000 yuan each time, the amount of tax should be paid = the amount of income each time ×(1 - 20%)×20%×(1 - 30%).
Royalty income was calculated based on the selling price of the copyright, the total number of words, and the number of times the work was published. The specific calculation formula was: Royalty = copyright sale price of the work x total word count x number of times published. Among them, the selling price of the copyright of the work was usually determined by the publishing company or copyright agent. However, the tax rate, calculation method, and payment method of royalty income may vary in different countries. In China, in addition to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and China-foreign cooperative book publishing contracts that used royalties to pay remuneration, domestic book publishing contracts and drama performance contracts generally used the form of "remuneration" to pay remuneration to authors. The specific formula for calculating the remuneration was: remuneration = fixed amount per thousand words x thousand words in the book + remuneration for the number of prints. Royalty income may be calculated differently in each country, so the specific royalty income should be calculated according to the contractual agreement and local regulations.
The income of a novel author was rather complicated, and there was no unified standard. From the perspective of online authors, there were five levels of income: the first level was 500 yuan, with a monthly income of about 3,000 yuan; the second level was 3,000 yuan, with a monthly income of more than 10,000 yuan; the third level was 10,000 yuan, with an annual income of one million yuan; the fourth level could sell film and television copyrights, with at least one million yuan; and the fifth level was 250,000 yuan, with an annual income of more than ten million yuan. From the perspective of traditional novelists, for example, according to the data on recruitment positions in 2024, 52.7% of novelists were paid 4.5 - 8K per month, with an annual salary of 50,000 - 100,000 yuan. According to education, the salary of a junior college student was 7.4K. However, different educational qualifications, experience, and other factors would affect the income. For example, the salary of a freshman was 25.0K. At the same time, online authors like the Tang family's Third Young Master earned 130 million yuan in royalties. Yang Hongying, who ranked first among traditional authors, earned 57 million yuan in royalties, but this was only the income of the top authors. In the early days, there were also web novelists who earned only a few hundred yuan a month. There were also many authors who wrote to win the website's full attendance award, so their income was not high. In general, the income of novel authors varied greatly, ranging from a few thousand a month to tens of millions a year. It was also affected by many factors, such as the writing platform, writing level, popularity of the work, whether it could be signed, whether the copyright was sold, and so on.
Based on context alone The income of novelists varied greatly. For some well-known, best-selling authors or web novel authors, their income was very considerable. These writers had a variety of sources of income. On the one hand, they earned royalties from their works. If their works were printed in large quantities, royalties would bring high profits. For example, some popular novels sold millions of copies in paper. According to a certain percentage of royalties, the income was quite generous. On the other hand, their works could be adapted into movies, animations, games, etc., and they could earn huge sums of money by selling copyrights. For example, after some popular online novels were adapted into television dramas or games, the copyright sales fees could reach tens of millions of yuan. For novelists who were new to the industry or in a niche field, their income might not be high. They might mainly rely on the share of the online literature platform to earn income, but if the popularity of the work was not high and the number of readers was small, the share they could get would be limited. Some might only receive a small amount of money or participate in writing competitions to get a small bonus. In general, the income of a novel writer ranged from almost nothing to hundreds of millions of dollars per year, depending on the author's popularity, the quality and popularity of the work, the sales of derivative copyrights, and many other factors. <a href="/?from=ask_words" style="color:red" target="_blank">Read more exciting novels for free</a>
The income of Qidian writers was calculated based on many factors. The specific calculation method included the quality of the work, the number of words, the number of readers, advertising revenue, and other factors such as the classification of the work and recommendations. The higher the quality of the work, the higher the income reward; the more words, the higher the income; the higher the number of readers, the higher the income; the higher the number of advertisements, the higher the income. Qidian Chinese Network would also calculate the income based on the different factors of the work. According to the information provided, the income of writers of different levels also varied. For example, the monthly income of a platinum author might be between ten thousand to tens of thousands, while the income of an ordinary author might be even lower. However, the specific calculation method and amount of income may vary according to individual circumstances, so it is impossible to give a definite answer.
The top 10 authors (based on royalty income) on the 13th Annual Writers 'List (2019) were Liu Cixin, Yu Hua, Da Bing, That Year's Bright Moon, Chen Lei, Long Yingtai, Wu Zhihong, Zhou Guoping, Jiang Xun, and Li Xiaoyi (Zhang Xiaoxian and other female authors who were good at writing psychology and EQ were also on the list, but it was not clear whether they were in the top 10). In addition, according to the pre-tax income of global writers from June 1,2018 to June 1,2019, the five highest-paid writers in 2019 were J.K. Rowling, James Patterson, Michelle Obamas, Jeff Kinney, and Stephen King.