Writing Books to Make Money?

Writing Books to Make Money?

 

I recently summarized my humble investing experience and learnings into two books:

 

“$5 Million in 8 Years: Real Estate Investing on the Side”, published on Amazon in 2020.

 

“The Intelligent Small Investor: Ordinary People Become Millionaires”, published on Amazon in 2021.

 

Some people are curious and have asked how much money I have made from the books.

 

As of today (4/9/2021), I have received a total of about $700 from book sales. 

 

Amazon keeps most of the money because they have to pay for printing, platform and personnel.  I get paid about $3 for each sold copy.  This means that my books have sold a little more than 200 copies.

 

Therefore, if the author is thinking to make a lot of money from the books, he or she will be disappointed.  Authors seem to be like musicians and basketball players; only a few big names make a lot of money.  The majority of them do not make much money at all.  Famous people sell millions of copies.  Ordinary people like me are unknown and do not have the name recognition.

 

If you spend 700 hours in writing and make only $700, that is only $1/hour, much less than the minimum wage.

 

So, why write the books?

 

Some readers of my books have said:

 

“Very inspiring life-changing book.”

“I wish I had read this book years ago.”

“This book is among the best that I have read.”

“This has been by far the best one that I have read.”

“受益匪浅”.

“相见恨晚”.

 

If my purpose is to make money from the books, it will be very disappointing.  I make much more money in investing.  However, if my books can help 200 families make millions of dollars and achieve financial freedom, then it is worth it.

By David Meng, author of book “The Intelligent Small Investor”

 

所有跟帖： 

• Seems like a book ad -Tolandlord- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 08:27:38

• 对写书可能有误解，在这里说明一下 -David_S_Meng- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 08:58:44

• 写书其实是吃力但是没有什么回报的事情 -David_S_Meng- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 09:00:52

• 谢谢分享！我倒是相信楼主是真心分享，毕竟除非你已经是名人，一般写书的人的目的都不在钱上，通常是已经实现时间自由了，希望自己这辈子 -久而久之- ♀ (212 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 10:08:00

• Thank you. Please see my response: -David_S_Meng- ♂ (659 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 10:19:22

• 赞一个。 -jjj7- ♂ (74 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 15:12:05

• 谢谢您 -David_S_Meng- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 15:13:13

• 买了你的书. -mobius- ♂ (64 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 19:16:13

• 谢谢您 -David_S_Meng- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 19:54:16

• 我也买了一本，请Meng教授继续在投坛上和大家分享！ -pali- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/09/2021 postreply 21:44:16

• Thank you. If you have any questions or feedback please let -David_S_Meng- ♂ (159 bytes) () 04/10/2021 postreply 06:41:45