The author of bestselling memoir Maid has revealed her literary success and subsequent deal with Netflix didn’t make her rich.
Stephanie Land, 45, said she had to turn down requests for charitable donations and friends who asked for loans after she rose to fame with the 2019 novel based on her own experiences as a single mother working as a cleaner worked for wealthy families in Seattle.
Maid became a surprise bestseller just before the pandemic and was adapted into a hugely popular 10-episode Netflix series in 2021 starring Margaret Qualley, with a budget of $10 million.
But the Alaska-born Land said her success came from the assumption that she was now wealthy — telling the New York Times that an unnamed charity had asked for a $30,000 donation, which she politely declined.
The author revealed that when she received her first book payment, she had to forego much of it in order to find her way from below the poverty line to a basic level of financial stability.
The author of bestselling memoir Maid has revealed her literary success and subsequent deal with Netflix didn’t make her rich
The author revealed that when she received her first book payment, she had to forego much of it in order to find her way from below the poverty line to a basic level of financial stability. (Pictured: New mother and maid land in Seattle)
“Maid” became a surprise bestseller just before the pandemic and was adapted into a hugely popular 10-episode limited Netflix series in 2021 starring Margaret Qualley on a budget of $10 million
Land said she was saddled with $50,000 in student loans and $16,000 in credit card debt, which she paid off immediately.
Her two children also needed health insurance, costing more than $30,000 a year, after their book income made them ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance. She also spent $7,000 on a used Subaru.
“I couldn’t make ends meet for years to make up for it,” she told the Times. “And that includes mental health and our physical health.”
Land said she even struggled to come up with a down payment on her first house.
She married Air Force veteran Tim Faust in 2019, who was ineligible for a VA home loan due to two late repayments on his student loans.
In 2020, the couple tried to move from Missoula, Montana to Raleigh, North Carolina to get a $350,000 mortgage – but their book payments and the promise of a future payment weren’t enough to qualify.
“I couldn’t prove to them that I had a job,” Land told the Times. “The book advance felt like a strange loan. It was scary… I still have a lot of trouble with job security.”
Land said she initially turned down loan requests from friends who assumed she was now rich – but later lent her anything up to $15,000.
The author turned down bolder requests from charities, but paid camp tuition for a week for twelve low-income families in her community.
Land wrote her memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will To Survive in 2019, which quickly became a bestseller
In the Netflix series Maid, Land’s memories of her time as a cleaning lady are narrated through the main character, a single mother named Alex who flees her abusive partner and seeks refuge in a women’s shelter
She added that her relative wealth compared to her life before could make her seem “fake,” as her next book, titled “Class,” was released this week.
This fear stems in part from the public reaction to her new social status – as Land revealed that fans gave her disapproving looks for sitting in first class on a plane – even though they didn’t know there was a customer for the seat had paid.
Land said she secured a home after months of wrangling with realtors — with a small down payment that required mortgage insurance.
In the Netflix series Maid, Land’s memories of her time as a cleaning lady are narrated through the main character, a single mother named Alex who flees her abusive partner and seeks refuge in a women’s shelter.
To make ends meet, Alex takes a job as a maid to support herself and her daughter – while also fighting with her former partner for custody of their child.
The experiences closely reflect events in Land’s own life; The author comes from a middle-class Alaskan family, but became homeless in her mid-20s after a falling out with her boyfriend.
She unexpectedly became pregnant and this led to the breakdown of their relationship when Land’s boyfriend tried to intimidate her into having an abortion, which she refused before eventually leaving him and taking their baby with him.
In the series, Margaret Qualley plays Alex, a down-on-her-luck single mother who works as a maid to make ends meet while fighting for custody of her daughter
To survive, Land took a job cleaning for middle- and upper-class families on the wealthy Camano Island near Seattle, where she was paid $8.55 an hour.
To make the boring and “lonely” job more interesting, Land began making up made-up stories around her clients’ lives based on things she would see while cleaning their houses.
When her book was published, many middle and upper class people reached out and admitted they were “unnerved” that their cleaners at home could know so much about them.