He kept producing in rapid succession so checks were always coming in and people were buying his older books.

Edited to mention that he wrote 400 books, the third most in the history of man kind.

I'm still working on that part. I tend to agonize over every word.

http://www.trivia-library.com/c/20-most-prolific-authors-and-writers-in-literary-history.htm

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The more I hear of the financial side of the writing life, the more I'm glad I aimed for a high-paying job and kept writing on the side. (That I don't like doing what I do, and regret choosing it, is another issue.)

I wonder if there is a connection? Is it just too hard to get a book published now than pretty much ever before?

Of course, the ideal is a high advance, but if a title doesn't earn out its advance, an author might not earn as high an advance on a next title, if any advance at all, let alone a publishing contract to begin with.

The reason for this is that the publisher is taking a big chance on your first book. No one has heard of you and there is no proof you will sell.
This is also why there is a saying that publishers are not interested in your first book, but your second and third books. They depend on authors who can develop a following. Each new book develops a bigger following where people will watch for your work and know immediately that it is something they want to read.

To be an author that makes money in writing, you must work at it like a job, forty hour weeks, fifty two weeks a year, producing product that people will buy. The same as any "paying" job.
Most of us are part time writers and are writing as a hobby. If I put in five hours a week in my non-story idea writing, I really have my nose to the grindstone. Consider how much money you would make at your real job if you put in five hours a week at it.
There are stories of people quitting their jobs to become writers. Most of those stories are about people who never developed the skills in the first place and just decided that they will write for a profession.

The writing industry is a cottage industry, where people do the work, at home, in their spare time.

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To be an author that makes money in writing, you must work at it like a job, forty hour weeks, fifty two weeks a year, producing product that people will buy. The same as any "paying" job.
Most of us are part time writers and are writing as a hobby. If I put in five hours a week in my non-story idea writing, I really have my nose to the grindstone. Consider how much money you would make at your real job if you put in five hours a week at it.

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The trouble is, most people are already working a forty hour a week job (or nearly so like myself) and many already have kids etc etc so putting in 40 hours a week on writing is simply an impossibility.

Stephen King worked a regular job and wrote in his off time before making it big. He probably put more time in than many people here do, but I doubt he spent 40 hours a week writing, all the time.

I'm almost totally positive JK Rowling didn't write 40 hours a week before making it big.

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3. PRENTISS INGRAHAM (1843-1904) 600 + books

American dime novelist who occasionally wrote a 35,000-word book overnight. He wrote 200 books on Buffalo Bill alone.

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Nano-ers take note - at least to know it's possible

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Brandon Sanderson's new book (The Gathering Storm) has a 1,000,000 initial print-run in hardcover. Even if they only sell 300,000 and remainder the rest, that's still a lot of royalty income.

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Depending, of course, on how big his advance was. Between his name and the fact that it's the long-awaited continuation of a series (for some people), he might have had a pretty big advance.

Writing thirty-five thousand words a night isn't impossible, even now...but you'd have to sacrifice things like second drafts and extreme revisions. And, likely, quality as well.

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I would imagine to draw Brandon Sanderson into writing The Gathering Storm, Jordan's estate would have had to make some kind of royalty deal with him, though, as said, likely a fraction of what he could get for an original work of his own---but, also, a fraction of a greater whole than what he could sell on his own.

More likely, a posthumous collaboration---say, something like the endless books that have come from the estate of V. C. Andrews---would involve a flat fee, no royalties, and all other rights remaining with the estate. Work-for-hire.

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When I worked in a (mostly-used) bookstore, we bought new books, paperbacks only, at thirty-five percent of the cover price, not directly from the publisher, but from a wholesaler. (Ingram Books.) I'm also told it costs pennies to produce a book as an artifact. So you can see the markup is quite large.