Aspiring Authors: Take this Note from Taylor Swift
How the World’s Biggest Pop Star Gave Us Another Masterclass on the Value of Words This Week
I’ve been a fan of Taylor Swift since her very first single, “Tim McGraw.” But I didn’t call myself a Swiftie—or get fully swept into the world of Tay-lore (yes, that’s a thing)—until 2020, when she dropped Folklore like a life raft in the middle of a storm. It was the moody, aching album we didn’t know we needed during the darkest days of the pandemic.
For Taylor’s fans, her music met us in our moments of grief and solitude. Then her Taylor’s Version re-releases stirred up joyful nostalgia, bringing us back to better times. Her tour brought millions together around the world in theaters and stadiums—reminding us how good it feels to be where the people are. Over the past five years, her music was truly the gift that just kept on giving.
Outside of music, her maverick business moves have made her a billionaire and a case study in brand power, audience connection, and creative control.
This week, she made headlines again. In a letter on her website, Taylor announced she now owns the entirety of her life’s work. Her original six albums—once sold without her consent—now belong to her, along with her concert films, music videos, and documentaries. If she made it, she owns it.
It’s a massive moment—not just for her, but for creatives everywhere.
Why Authors Should Pay Attention
Taylor’s re-recording journey already inspired other musicians to renegotiate their contracts and fight for more ownership. In her acceptance speech at the Grammy’s this year, Chappell Roan called out the unfair business model of the music industry saying,
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists”
As someone with a debut novel coming out this fall, Taylor’s victory and Chappell’s fight for fair treatment of artists got me thinking: what can aspiring authors learn from this?
Because here’s the truth: the publishing industry is just as broken as the music industry. Technology has upended how both of these industries do or don’t make money. Because of this shift, publishers want guaranteed sales and are less likely to take risks on no-name authors.
With that in mind, here’s the note every author should take from Taylor Swift right now:
Own the Value of Your Work
For many aspiring authors, landing a traditional book deal is the dream. And don’t get me wrong—it’s a huge accomplishment and milestone. Taylor herself famously went door-to-door on her middle school spring break, handing out demos to record labels in Nashville—a record deal was her dream.
What a Book Deal Really Pays:
Most debut authors with Big 5 publishers receive an advance between $10,000 and $25,0001. You’ll pay ~15% to your agent, and taxes on the rest. Royalties don’t kick in until you’ve earned out that advance.
Most Paperbacks are around $17.00 list price, and traditionally published authors get a 7.5% royalty rate on the list price, so the author will make about $1.28 per sale. On Ebook sales, typically around $9.99, the author makes 25% net off of sales, meaning the publisher will make ~$7 and the author will get around $1.75 per copy.
To earn back a $25,000 advance you’d need to sell ~7,000 paperbacks and ~7,000 ebooks—or some combination totaling 14,000+ units to start making any income on royalties.
But here’s the real kicker:
Fewer than 10–20% of debut fiction authors sell over 14,000 copies in the first year or two2.
The average traditionally published book sells 3,000–5,000 copies in its lifetime3. According to BookScan, 90% of books sell fewer than 2,000 copies per year and most fiction debuts hover around 1,000–10,000 lifetime print sales unless they break out.
So unless you’re a celebrity or a really lucky viral sensation, the odds of seeing a dime beyond your advance are slim.
It’s no surprise many authors are choosing to self-publish or go hybrid. The barrier to entry in traditional publishing is high, and the ROI is often incredibly low. In fact, many seasoned authors I’ve met who’ve had traditional book deals are now choosing to hybrid publish or self-publish for these very reasons. The math just ain’t mathin’.
Even Taylor—arguably the most famous woman in the world—chose to skip the industry gatekeepers and middlemen with her Eras Tour book, striking an exclusive deal with Target. She did the same with her concert film, skipping Hollywood studios and going straight to AMC.
She knows her fans will buy what she creates, wherever she offers it.
That’s the power of building and connecting with your audience over many years. And it’s also the secret to success most authors with longevity will tell you: Keep writing books. Keep showing up. Over time, your readers will too, however you decide to publish.
Know Your Rights
When Taylor signed her original record deal, she was very young and it was her dream come true. But, in retrospect, I suspect she’d have a lot of advice for her younger self as far as what she’d do differently to protect her intellectual property. Thankfully, she’s used her platform to speak out against the unfair, yet all too common, practices that benefit billionaires and not artists.
So, before you sign a contract, know your rights and understand the pros and cons of maintaining them or forfeiting them.
Here are some questions authors should ask themselves and their potential publishers:
Will I be okay with no control over creative decisions for my book? If the answer is no, make sure to address this in your contract.
Do I want to have input on the cover, the title, or any changes made to the book?
Do I want to retain audio rights? International? Movie or TV show adaptations?
What number feels like reasonable compensation for the work I’ve already put in, and will continue to put in, understanding I may not make any more from royalties?
Let’s say you’re being offered a $10K advance, and worked on writing, editing, and querying agents for two years, putting in an average of 10 hours a week. After the contract is signed, you’ll go into revising and editing, and then marketing and promoting likely for another two years at least. Breaking that advance down by the hour over 4 years, your hourly rate looks like this:
$10,000 ÷ 2,080 hours = $4.81 per hour.
(For context, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour)
These are questions you deserve to have answered before you sign on the dotted line. Likewise, if you’re deciding to self-publish or publish through a reputable hybrid press, what amount of money are you comfortable investing upfront, and how many books will you need to sell to start to make a profit?
The bottom line is the bottom line here:
If you are an author and your goal is to make a living from writing books, as unromantic as it sounds, you have to treat it like a business and understand the numbers and terms.
If your dream is that traditional book deal and making money isn’t your goal—that’s all that matters. The most important thing is that your work gives you the pay off you feel good about. My goal here is not to tell anyone that their publishing path is wrong or that making money is the only important goal. I only want to make sure aspiring authors fully understand what they’re gaining from a publisher, and what they’re giving up so they don’t wind up feeling disenchanted down the line.
As writers, we should not have to settle for less than we deserve for years of our time, effort, and energy. As Taylor put it in her song “The Man”:
“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can / Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man”
Her frustration at the injustice of rich men profiting from her life’s work was visceral in this song, released in 2019. But, like the true baller she is, she took action. She got to work. She played the long game. And she won.
In doing so, she’s showing all artists the playbook.
Footnotes
Jane Friedman, “How Much Do Authors Really Make from a Book Deal?”
Internal estimates based on BookScan data and industry averages, 2020–2023.
Digital Book World 2020 Report; BookScan data reflects 85% of U.S. print sales.