How much money I made writing a guidebook
All my costs and earnings after five years in print.
I scored the holy grail for many writers: a publishing contract for my dream book, distributed widely, and well-received by readers. Even better, five years after publication The Bondi to Manly Walk: the definitive guidebook is still in print. Last issue I shared my path to publication. Today, I’ll go deep into the book’s financials: earning out the advance, paying for an audiobook and, five years of earnings later, whether it was all (financially) worth it.
This is part two of a three-part series about my experience with the Australian publishing industry. In part one, I walked you through the book’s genesis, how it became timely years later, and what happened when a publisher eventually said yes (the money, a long-delayed contract, and playing the promotional game). Subscribe for part three where I’ll share what happened when the publisher asked for another. I said yes… but only have one book to my name - what happened?
Now, the story behind the story of my earnings from The Bondi to Manly Walk: the definitive guidebook.
The Advance
AU$3000 upfront. That was my advance, the amount a publisher paid me before the contracted book was published. If the book sold well, it would act as a prepayment of future earnings. If the book bombed, I wouldn’t need to pay it back.
Royalties
As it had already taken ten years to get a publishing contract, I took a long-term view of my earnings potential. Instead of requesting a higher advance, I negotiated a rising royalty clause. I would earn 10% of the recommended retail price (RRP) on the first 4999 print copies sold. Once sales hit 5000, I could then earn 12.5% of RRP.
Given that 90% of books in the United States sell less than 2000 units (that disheartening data is thanks to the 2022 Anti-Trust hearing between Penguin Random House and Simon Schuster) - and Australia is a significantly smaller market - the publisher agreed to this statistically unlikely event.
This kind of contract negotiation is easier for first-time authors because a publisher can’t lose. They win with a bestseller that has recouped its costs; the author wins with a slightly fairer distribution of profits. (Australian author Anna Featherstone takes a look at how many copies make a bestseller?)
In my case, I would have the potential to earn AU$3.18 (or the less likely $3.98 upper limit) for every copy of my book sold (AU$34.99 RRP including GST tax).
It would take sales of nearly 950 books before I could earn out my advance and receive any additional money.
First year earnings
The book was an immediate success. By “immediate” I mean that in the first month (September 2021) it sold below the publisher’s expectations because New South Wales was still in COVID lockdown. Once restrictions lifted in mid-October, sales went off.
Many publishers pay royalties twice per year but mine pays annually in early April for the previous calendar year. To my delight, the first four months of sales had moved nearly 2700 copies. In my first royalty payment, I’d covered my advance plus earnt more.
By February 2022, the publisher had ordered a small reprint of 500 copies on top of the initial print run of 4000. Optimism was in the air.
Then the Bondi to Manly Walk Supporters—a not-for-profit responsible for making the official track a reality—launched their own guidebook. Just basic track notes and maps, no stories or facts, nor food and accommodation suggestions. Our books walk the same path, differently.
The penny dropped why the Supporters’ support during writing was reluctant. Despite their official remit of promoting the route, my guidebook is never mentioned on the not-for-profit’s website or social media, even though they regularly share other press clippings.
The market clearly believes there is space for both to exist. Five years later The Bondi to Manly Walk: the definitive guidebook is still in bookstores.
Then there’s the audiobook
Audiobooks cost money that publishers prefer to spend on guaranteed returns, like bestsellers, celebrity memoirs and popular fiction series. Certainly not for an independent guidebook. Typical guidebooks that are lists of sightseeing entries would read poorly as an audio version.
I saw things differently. My guidebook defied expected formatting, favouring stories over listings. It was borne from my background as a tour operator, making me think of this book like carrying a tour guide in your backpack. Plus, my professional experience as a radio producer made me very comfortable with audio.
I asked to keep the rights for audio, knowing the publisher had no intention of using them. Then I researched audiobook production studios and hired a producer/engineer. For this work of non-fiction, I was confident in my own ability as voiceover talent (something I’d never consider for the different audio demands of a memoir or novel).
Audiobook distribution is easier to access without a publisher’s backing compared to print book distribution. I used Findaway Voices (now owned by Spotify and renamed Voices by INaudio) to distribute the 5.5 hour audiobook to Audible, Apple, Spotify and more.
I paid AU$2,500 for studio hire and the sound engineer, plus another AU$300 for a graphic designer to redo the cover art. There goes my first—and largest—paycheck.
What I spent
If you think paying AU$2,800 for a completely optional audiobook was my only expense, you’re wrong. Travel costs money. I spent an additional AU$1,600 on accommodation, travel, dining and research. I also sold a box of print books which I purchased directly from the publisher for AU$300.
So not only did my book need to sell enough to earn out my AU$3000 advance, I also spent AU$4,700.
Doing the math… did I make a profit?
If we pretend, just for a moment, that authors don’t need to be paid for their time, then I did make a profit.
I’ve received AU$13,300 (including the advance) over the book’s life. This is mostly royalties, with some direct book sales, a small one-off speaking fee, a teensy amount of audiobook sales, and—bonus—four years of Public Lending Rights payments (the government pays authors compensation “for the loss of income through the free multiple use of their work in Australian public lending libraries”).
Take away what I’ve spent and that leaves a profit (excluding labour) of AU$8,600.
Okay, okay, that audiobook recording was a poor financial choice. If I hadn’t paid for that, I’d have AU$11,400 to show for eight months’ work.
Either way, it’s equivalent to a one-off pro-rated annual salary of between AU$12,900 - $17,100 (to put this in context, the median full-time salary in Australia is currently AU$90,500 per year). Tut tut some more at the state of Aussie author earnings in the Australian Society of Authors’ 2025 Creator Income Survey.
The best way for authors to increase their earnings is to have more than one book in the market. Which is great news because my publisher asked me to write a second guidebook! Subscribe to find out what happened next…
Read the book
The Bondi to Manly Walk: the definitive guidebook by Tara Wells - NewSouth Publishing
Australian readers can buy the print book (ISBN 978-1742237411) from leading bookstores or borrow it from their local library.
International and Australian readers can access the eBook (ISBN 978-1742245348) (via Amazon and more) and audiobook (via Audible, Spotify and more).
This week I’m… starting again
The family commitments that have taken much of my attention this year have eased for a moment. For anyone who has also been a loving bystander to a terminal illness, you’ll understand the strange sense of waiting that accompanies this in-between time.
As a freelancer, I’ve had to juggle between pitching and not letting an editor down if the sands shift too suddenly to deliver. My answer, for a long time, was not to pitch. Plus, my brain was too fuzzy for creativity.
In these last few weeks, I pitched a story I’d been sitting on, had it accepted, wrote it (so slow; so rusty) and filed. Phew.
In three months time I’ll head off on a five-week European trip. This three-month advance window, I’ve decided, is the ideal period for pitching editors. This assumption is based solely on a single publication explicitly stating they ignore pitches for travel beyond this time frame. It’s working for me now though; happily pitching away, knowing I won’t need to deliver any commissions for months.
It feels like 2026 so far has been a year of invisibility. I’ve barely popped into any editor’s inbox nor been to events since IMM in February. So it felt marvellous to be remembered by a PR who I met at IMM (like a speed-dating event between travel PR and writers). The meeting had felt so aligned I was sure it would result in a press trip offer. But for months, nothing. The other week, an offer came through. Patience, my child, patience.
What I’m…
Reading
Last year Talking Travel Writing co-author, Steph Dyson, asked 54 guidebook authors what they earnt. So… how much does guidebook writing actually pay?
Reading
Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living features essays by Roxane Gay, Cheryl Strayed, Nick Hornby and more. Refreshingly transparent, I recommend this anthology edited by manjula martin. Or subscribe to Scratch, the newsletter, for ongoing musings about how writers are surviving.
It was very interesting to read this breakdown. Thanks for sharing and congrats on the book!
Thanks for sharing Tara! Those PLR payments are a nice bonus, I recently received my first.