Successful Authors Who Were Once At The End Of Their Careers And Old

It seems impossible that someone would decide to be an author when they are at their career’s end and old. Success is stacked up against them. But a few managed to become successful, is there a secret to their success?

Choosing a career as an author just like many artistic pursuits can be very trying. There are literally so many authors in every country especially in this age of self publishing. It seems there are many people who want to write a book for some reason or another.

In the US for example, various online resources like the Association of Writers and Writing Program list the number of American authors to be about 150,000 as of 2010. And this is already an old information.

The numbers of authors in America alone have exponentially increased with increasing technology and faster internet speeds. The ProQuest Bowker Report dated October 15, 2019, reported that nearly 1.7 million books were self-published in the US alone.

This is report even adds that a total of more than four million books were published alone in 2019. These figures should be enough for any aspiring author to think twice before deciding to embark in a book writing career.

It is further reported that in the US, many authors only earn about $5,000 from the lifetime sales of each of their book. My advice here is to measure the cost to earnings scenario of the book you would potentially make.

Be careful in spending your valuable time and money whenever you write a book. Unless you are a well known person who can sell books based on your name alone, the chances of your book becoming a bestseller is very slim.

Despite the seemingly gloomy outlook for authors, there are still good news. For one, there are more and more people reading all forms of books which could be printed books, ebooks and audiobooks.

That’s not the only good news, there are now more and more authors getting known and earning good money by self-publishing. All you need to self-publish these days at the minimum is a laptop and an internet connection and maybe a graphics software to do your book covers.

Self-Publishing has enabled amateur and even professional authors to publish a book very cheaply and even at no cost. The game being played these days is the numbers game. Many amateurs as well as seasoned and famous authors scramble to publish as many books as possible these days.

The rest of this article would take a look at some authors who were at the end of their careers and were already old before they became successful. It is hoped that we’ll get inspiration from them and even learn why they succeeded.

But before we begin, let’s take a look at James Patterson who began his author career at the age of 29. He’s also not at the end of his career when he began writing. So why is he included in this article?

This is because James Patterson, is arguably the richest male author in the world with an estimated net worth of between 560 to 800 million dollars depending on which website you believe, has written and co-wrote 25 books in 2020 alone.

That’s an average of one book every fifteen days. This is entirely possible if you’re just writing short stories, novelette and novellas. However, many of James Patterson’s books are full fledged novels.

He also writes in several genres, from detective thrillers, romance and children’s books. He’s been criticized for being a commercially oriented author. Many say that these days, he’s more of a businessman than an author. But his financial success speaks for itself.

James Patterson is the face of what being an author will be in the coming years. You’re not only an author, but a businessman who’s not locked into one genre only. Your books would likely be co-authored or may even be ghostwritten.

As of 2021, he has an author career spanning 40 years. If we were to assume that he is really worth $800 million now, then it means that he earns around $20 million a year. So he is an inspiration to many authors who want to someday become multimillionaires.

The first author in this article’s list is James Dover Grant or more popularly known by his pen name as Lee Child. He is a British author who is mainly popular because of his Jack Reacher series of novels.

Let’s get to the point. He only began being an author at the age of 43 after he was made redundant from his television career as a presentation director. He would often say that he began his author career by buying a few dollars worth of pencils and writing papers.

As of 2021, he is now 67 years old with a 24 year writing career. He has a reported net worth of between 50 to 60 million dollars depending on which website you visit, but most websites report that he is worth 60 million dollars.

Using the previous figures, we can conclude that he earns about $2.5 million a year. Lee owns a house in both the US and France and based from his annual book earnings, his book writing career has given him a luxurious life.

Idea Of A Main Protagonist:

When asked about his most famous character creation which is Jack Reacher, he says that through experience, he knows that many people adore characters like his famous character.

He says that people like characters who are like Robinhood who fights for justice and helps out the poor and the oppressed people. He says that the proof to this is that there are several different myths about Robinhood.

And why are there several myths about Robinhood? He says that people like Robinhood so much that they talk about him a lot, resulting in several stories of him being created. Perhaps many here know that a story is slightly changed everytime it is retold from one mouth to another.

And during the days of Robinhood, the most prevalent way of sharing a story would be by word of mouth. This is the reason why Lee Child patterned his character Jack Reacher to Robinhood. They are both outcasts who are fighting for justice, the poor and oppressed.

This is one of his advise. He says that book readers tend to like main protagonists who are patterned after Robinhood and that is why you must pattern your main protagonist to him to better your chances of your book being bought.

I think Lee Child is correct, many main protagonist in books and movies have been the Robinhood types. There are the poor lawyers who fight for injustice, the good cop who never follows the rules and therefore never promoted, but is excellent at solving crimes. They are just some of the examples.

Short Stories and Novellas:

Besides writing novels, he has also written short stories and novellas which are tied to and not tied to his famous Jack Reacher novel series. This shows the popularity of his character. He has 45 novels, novellas and short stories devoted to his Jack Reacher character alone.

He is in stark contrast to authors who only write novels to their detriment because they think that only novels sell well. Ebooks, novellas, novelettes and short stories are becoming increasingly popular to book readers especially those who have busy schedules in the age of self publishing.

Short stories are not only less of a stress to write, they are also effective ways to advertise your more longer works which are usually novels. This is because with the glut of books today, not many book readers are willing to read a novel from unknown author, but they may read their short stories.

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 to February 10, 1957) was an American who is most famously known for her Little House on the Prairie series of children’s books which were published between 1932 and 1943.

Little House on the Prairie was so popular that during the 70’s a television series was loosely adapted from it which was also called Little House on the Prairie. The television series proved to be so popular that it is still running on cable rerun shows.

The book and the television show was loosely based on her life experiences as a pioneer child during the early days of America. This book series and the ensuing television show are considered cult classics.

Life On The Edge:

By 1929, She was already retired and was supporting herself with her retirement income which was bolstered by the financial aid of her daughter. She was by now 62 years of age. She thought that she would now be living a quiet life as a retiree.

But during the same year, The Stock Market Crash of 1929 happened in America. It was arguably one of the biggest financial catastrophe which happened in America, if not the biggest.

She and her daughter were financially wiped out just like many Americans. It short, she and her daughter were broke. Although they still owned their 200-acre (81-hectare) farm, all their savings were gone.

Maybe out of desperation, she asked her daughter’s opinion on a manuscript she intended to write about her memoirs. Her daughter encouraged her to produce her memoir, and we all know what happened next, her books became popular.

Fortune From A Book Written 90 Years Ago:

As of 2017, the estimated worth of her books is valued at $100 million dollars. It had not only made her money during her lifetime, but it has also made her descendants money. Imagine being her descendant and earning money without having to work for it because of her.

That is why we could call books as not only businesses, but also investments. You simply don’t know if they would become valuable and for how long. So, if you’re an aspiring author, become even motivated by thinking that you’re not only writing a book for yourself, but for your descendants.

Appeal Which Touches The Heart:

One of the lessons I have learned from her is to write what you like and are familiar with. She wrote stories based from her memoirs which she is very familiar with. Even during her days as a journalist, she writes about the domestic life of simple Americans which she not only knows but likes.

Maybe it’s sheer luck that the topic she likes to write are still popular even today. We see daytime soap operas being one of the most watched shows on television, we see romance books being the most profitable genre.

Despite the perceived dominance of entertainment themed after science fiction, fantasy and thrillers, drama is still one of the most popular genre of entertainment. And drama usually revolves around relationships and family.

And looking at her books, they are a shining beacon that deep down inside, people still long for wholesome family values. This is further heightened by the fact that there are children in America are introduced to her books by their parents.

I would like to still talk about other authors, but I have to limit myself or this article would become too long and may even become a book, so I’ll just briefly mention one more. Raymond Chandler, who’s author career is somewhat similar to Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder.

He was a British-American who lived between July 23, 1888 and March 26, 1959. He like Laura Ingalls Wilder was also a victim of a great financial catastrophe in America, The Great Depression.

He lost his job as an oil company executive in 1932, at the age of 44. He turned to writing detective stories and sold them to pulp magazines to make money. His first novel titled ‘The Big Sleep’ was published in 1939.

This featured the now iconic main protagonist Philip Marlowe. He is described as a wisecracking, hard-drinking, tough private eye but is also a contemplative and philosophical and enjoys chess and poetry.

He’s much like the prototypical robinhood type of hero that I have discussed earlier. His hardboiled crime fiction style was so popular that it was copied by many other authors who wrote in the same genre.

As what these authors have shown, it is still very possible to become a successful and rich author at any age of your life, even though you are already old. This is best exemplified by Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder who didn’t become a successful author until she was already retired.

Based from their lives, we can learn that the most lowest points in our lives and even our desperation may be just the very important motivation we need to pursue our desire to become authors.

These authors have nothing else to lose when they lost their savings and their jobs. So why take a chance and write and maybe, just maybe, you would become successful.

Creating Books For Young People