What is Six Figure Author?

Six Figure Author is an advice portal for mid-career authors looking to up-level their sales and build supremely healthy and sustainable author brands.


Why did you create SFA?

We believe that smart, steady and practical library and brand management can yield six-figure returns. Emphasis on practical. As in, making real money without releasing a book every two weeks, without writing a million words a year, without following much popular book marketing and brand management advice that sounds, well…impractical.


How do you define a “Six-Figure Author”?

A six-figure author is an author who is earning at least $100,000 per year from her overall author franchise. This may be represented through book royalties only or through a combination of royalties plus earnings from a publishing-industry side hustle (e.g., advice courses, a coaching or editing business, a book marketing or promotion business, etc.) More than 75% of contributors listed as six-figure authors are earning $100,000 per year from royalties alone.


Contributors fall into three categories: 1) authors who are actively earning six figures a year from their author brands, 2) subject-matter experts (SMEs) with extraordinary knowledge on focused topics, and 3) thought leaders with interesting takes on timely topics. Not all SMEs and thought leaders who are featured on the Six Figure Author blog are authors. Some of them are coaches, editors, audiobook actors, and other industry players with wisdom to impart. Among SMEs and thought leaders who are also authors, not all of them earn (or aim to earn) six figures a year from authoring alone. Contributor profiles indicate whether a contributor is a six-figure author, a SME, a thought leader or some combination of all three.

Who are your contributors?


Is this for indie authors only?

No. Our contributors are a mix of indie, trad, and hybrid authors and advice contained here is pertinent to authors with a range of approaches and career paths.


Is a prevalent sales approach represented within SFA advice?

Refreshingly, no, and that’s deliberate. Six Figure Author is not about presenting a single success formula or building a following that adheres to one philosophy. In that respect, some of the information presented on Six Figure Author may seem contradictory. But that’s the idea. We’re bringing you contributors who offer their own expertise, their own stories and journeys, and their own issues to consider. It’s up to you to decide what fits for you.


Who is the target audience for Six Figure Author?

Mid-career authors looking to up-level will benefit most from Six Figure Author. Our articles assume that you’re fluent in the language of publishing and basic book marketing, that you’re in-market with at least a few books, and that you’re already deep into the hustle. We treat it as a foregone conclusion that you have smart infrastructure in place and don’t need “what is” and “how-to” explainers about the most frequently-used tools and building blocks of author brands. The goal is to help you think through issues that authors at many career levels may be thinking about, albeit in sophisticated ways.


Who is NOT the target audience for Six Figure Author?

If you’re still learning the ropes of the publishing business and you’ve never gotten your hands dirty in book marketing, SFA probably isn’t your most important resource. Though you will undoubtedly glean value from the sage advice presented here, most articles assume that you’re arriving to the community with beginner mistakes behind you. In fact, we have a whole, big philosophy on how important it is to get your house in order before you move on to more sophisticated stuff.


How will Six Figure Author communities be moderated?

In addition to the Six Figure Author website, SFA maintains a presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We also allow article commenting on the SFA blog. Given our “dive right in” approach, comment threads will be moderated to ensure right-level conversations. If basic and beginner-level questions creep in, we will redirect participants to outside resources so as not to depart from conversations meant for mid-career authors. Additionally, bad behavior of any kind won’t be tolerated and will be moderated at our sole discretion.


The overarching goal of Six Figure Author is to provide practical, down-to-earth advice to authors looking to up-level into the six- and seven-figure range and we consider all strong article pitches from authors who can demonstrate sales results, subject-matter expertise, or extraordinary thought leadership. For specific guidelines and to get a sense for the credentials of our current columnists, head to our “contributors” page and scroll to the bottom for our submission form!

Can I become a contributor to Six Figure Author?


More Questions?

Have at it. We’ll try to answer within 24 hours.