Writing Hourly Rate Calculator
What your writing earns you per hour
Writing a book is a huge investment of time, and it is worth knowing what that time actually returns. This calculator divides your book's earnings by the hours you spent to give your real hourly rate. It can be humbling early on, and motivating as your catalogue compounds.
What is a realistic hourly rate for an author?
Early on it is often very low, sometimes a few dollars an hour or less, because a first book takes hundreds of hours and earns slowly. That is normal and not a reason to quit. The number matters because it reframes writing as a long-term investment: a book keeps earning for years, so the true hourly rate rises long after the writing is done.
Why does the hourly rate rise over time?
Because the hours are spent once but the book earns indefinitely. A title that took 300 hours and earns steadily for a decade has a very different hourly rate in year one than in year ten. Add a series with read-through, and each new book lifts the earnings of the earlier ones, compounding the return on time already spent.
How do I improve my writing hourly rate?
Write more books so earnings compound across a catalogue, build a mailing list so each launch earns more, improve read-through so one reader buys many books, and reuse work across formats. The goal is not to write faster at the cost of quality, but to make each hour of writing earn for longer.
Frequently asked questions
What is a realistic author hourly rate?
Often very low at first, since a first book takes hundreds of hours and earns slowly. It rises as the book keeps earning for years.
Why does the rate improve over time?
The hours are spent once but the book earns indefinitely, so the true hourly rate keeps rising long after the writing is done.
How do I raise my writing hourly rate?
Write more books, build a mailing list, improve series read-through, and reuse work across formats so each hour earns for longer.
Is this free?
Yes, and it runs in your browser.