My story
From $133 to over $750,000 in royalties.
How a pandemic, twins on the way and my wife’s first novel turned into the work I do today.
Hi, I’m Matt.
In April 2020, my wife’s first book earned $133 in royalties.
Today, her books have sold more than 350,000 copies and earned over $750,000 in royalties.
Here’s how we got there, and why I now spend my days helping other authors do the same.
350,000+
books sold
$750,000+
in royalties on my wife’s books
$1,000,000+
spent on ads, across genres
3,500+
authors worked with
March 2020
The worst timing imaginable.
When Covid hit the UK in March 2020, my video production business collapsed overnight. I couldn’t film. I couldn’t work. The income stopped.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. My wife and I were expecting twin boys in two months. We had no income and were about to become a family of four.
So I did what any desperate person would do: I looked for another way.
My wife had been writing fiction for years. She’d even signed a traditional publishing deal once, but it fell through six months in (long story). We’d dabbled in self-publishing before, but never committed to it properly.
Now we had no choice.
I threw myself into learning everything I could about self-publishing, marketing and advertising books. My wife focused on finishing her first novel. We worked around the clock.
On April 19th, 2020, we launched her first book on Amazon.
First month’s royalties: $133
Spent on Facebook Ads to get there: $110
Net profit: $23
I remember staring at the dashboard, wondering if we’d made a terrible mistake.
Monthly royalties
But we kept going.
May 2020
$894
June 2020
$1,113
August 2020
$2,938
December 2020
$4,776
October 2021
$11,281
our first five-figure month
November 2022
$17,396
We weren’t doing anything complicated. No secret hacks, no complex funnels. Just simple ad systems, consistent testing, and a willingness to learn from what wasn’t working.
My wife still writes one book a year. Her books have now sold more than 350,000 copies, earned over $750,000 in royalties, been translated into French and Spanish, and had their audio rights bought by a major publisher.
Not bad for a business we started with $10 a day in ad spend.
What I do now
Ads that pay for themselves. Books that keep selling.
These days I help fiction authors grow their royalties, whether they’re working toward their first $1,000 month or building a catalog that already earns.
I’ve worked with more than 3,500 authors through courses, coaching and mentorship. I’ve watched some hit their first $1,000 month. I’ve watched others grow from $1K to $5K to $10K+ a month while keeping the writing life they want. And I’ve watched talented writers burn out chasing tactics, or pour money into ads before their books were ready to sell.
The authors who do well treat their writing as a business. Their covers, blurbs and book pages are doing the selling, they get one ad platform working profitably, and then they grow from there.
I call this approach “The Royalty Engine”, and I’ve built a community around it: Author Mastery. It covers book covers, blurbs, keywords, categories, finding your readers, ads, and the systems that keep compounding, without the rapid-release treadmill or the burnout that usually comes with it.
No complicated theory. No chasing tactics. Just the systems that work.
Life away from the dashboard
A business built around life.
I live in the British countryside with my wife, our three boys, one blind, lazy dog, and 17 horses across 8 acres (the horses are my wife’s lifelong passion).
We built this business around our family, not the other way around.
I work a few focused hours each day. I’m there for school pickups. I don’t miss sports days. I take our boys to swimming lessons, and we go on bike rides together. When we want to travel, we travel (though we’re yet to tackle a plane ride with twins and their little brother!).
That’s the goal, isn’t it? Not just selling books, but building something that gives you freedom.
The best place to start
The Author Letter
If you’re a fiction author who wants ads that pay for themselves and books that keep selling, I’d love to help you get there. Every week I share what’s working across royalties, ads and the life behind your books. Read by over 18,000 authors.
One letter a week. A 5-minute read. Unsubscribe anytime.