Reality of a NYT bestseller

Interesting link. Thanks.

Ho humm.

Heh - good thing I'm doing it for the love. Plus, you gotta aim for markets other than the USA, too.

We really do write because we have to...not have to make money, just have to.

I read that when it was first posted on Friday. Thought it was very interesting.

It's having an extensive backlist that really generates the income. One book earning you a trickle of 1-2k royalties a year is nothing; ten or more books doing that is a wage. (just)

Another factor not oftened considered is the selling of territory rights. Individually, nothing spectacular usually at 1-3k per country. But when your agent manages to sell into a dozen or so countries, that really helps to keep you going.

The golden rule for making a living is longevity. Income-wise it pays more to keep churning out mediocre books every year than a cracking bestseller every now and then.

So this person's whining about a £25k advance?

Dollars, not pounds. I don't think they're whining, either - just saying that's how it is. I earn more than that a year and I'm not terribly well paid.

Gotta write though, paid for it or no =)

@edit - oh wait, you've already done a loose conversion, haven't you? Pardon my stupid! Still reckon you'd have trouble doing nothing else but writing on that sort of cash. You'd be very nervous about getting blocked =D

Maybe I should think twice about putting sugar in my boss's gas tank.

The value of this thread is this--many writers come into this business expecting to make a handsome wage year after year by writing a novel every year or two, so they quit their day job and bank on a cushy life of the writer. A bit of honesty, based on actual experience, is always welcome and needed so people realize that even an advance that looks like a good year's salary is broken into pieces paid over a couple of years, and totals significantly less than the original dollar amount written on the contract. On top of that, the royalty situation is complex and not nearly what one would expect. The best lesson is for writers to establish a pipeline model for their writing so, as mentioned, the new money keeps coming in as the backlist money props it up. The people who are successful in this writing business (other than the few who earn huge money) do so by being more than just extremely creative individuals--they are also hard working writers who earn every penny they make.

Don't forget, that's mass market paperback.

Money magazine had a thing about hardcovers..lemme see if I can find it.

I thought the real money came from selling the paperback rights anyway?

EDIT: And why the hell did it take a freakin' year to get her first royalty check? Surely they can't be THAT slow...

Argh...I can't find it. I read it in the hardcopy version of the mag, and have since donated all my old magazines, and my google-fu won't turn it up on the website. But per-book royalties on hardcovers are considerably higher.

Delhomeboy said:

I thought the real money came from selling the paperback rights anyway?

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Ideally, after the hardcover has been sold.

Delhomeboy said:

EDIT: And why the hell did it take a freakin' year to get her first royalty check? Surely they can't be THAT slow...

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You get royalties twice a year, usually, and depending on when your book comes out ... yeah. This isn't uncommon.

I've discussed this and many other things that this author highlights over in the Learn Writing with Uncle Jim thread.

There are lots of easier ways to earn more money, if money is what you're after.

scarletpeaches said:

So this person's whining about a £25k advance?

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I read no whining, I only read someone sharing information with people and helping clarify some misconceptions about the living authors make. I don't see that as complaining or whining.

Well, it's after tax money, and it's not even the entire advance. And she hasn't yet gotten the money which she will get from outselling her expectations--so far, all her royalties have been credited against her advance, which she has not yet gotten all of. From what I can tell, she'll probably get about the same amount again in November. Plus she may continue to get royalties for years, and she will now be in a position to get a larger advance for her next book--after all, her current book outsold expectations and garnered her a lot of new fans.

Delhomeboy said:

: why the hell did it take a freakin' year to get her first royalty check? Surely they can't be THAT slow...

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Oh, yes, they can.

It takes time for the bean counters to total up book sales from date A to date B. Some do it yearly, others twice a year, others quarterly, and some small e-houses are monthly.

Last week I got royalty statements for summer, 2008 for one of my titles.

Just keep in mind that a royalty is what your book has actually earned in sales.

An advance is what you get when you sign a contract. That's how much the publisher estimates your book will earn. Think of it as a loan that has to be paid off before they give you more money.

If your advance is 1000.00 and you earn 999.00 in your percentage of the sales, you don't make a royalty, though they'll send you a statement.

If your sales earnings are 1001.00, you've earned a royalty, but the publisher will hold that dollar back until the next statement and put it on THAT check.

The cutoff amount for my earnings is 25.00 with one house. If my sales aren't over that amount they apply it to the next statement and check.

That was an excellent article, btw. I strongly suggest everyone print it out and keep it handy.

As for fast advance payment--one of my friends closed her deal with a major house months ago. In fact, she had the first book finished and turned in the day she signed the contract. She is well ahead on her second title.

They've STILL not sent her that first advance check, having exceeded the time period as stated in her contract.

On her next contract, her agent will add a clause that they MUST send the check within a specific time period, or else pay extra as a penalty!

I should mention that, she's now a Times bestselling writer, so she can get away with that kind of thing!

MetalDog said:

Dollars, not pounds. I don't think they're whining, either - just saying that's how it is. I earn more than that a year and I'm not terribly well paid.

Gotta write though, paid for it or no =)

@edit - oh wait, you've already done a loose conversion, haven't you? Pardon my stupid! Still reckon you'd have trouble doing nothing else but writing on that sort of cash. You'd be very nervous about getting blocked =D

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Aye, UK cash is roughly half the munniez numbers of dollars.

Me, personally, I could easily live on £25k a year. In fact that'd keep me out of a whole heap of trouble, so...yeah. I'd be glad of it.

(And I don't get blocked anyway, so nerves wouldn't be a factor there).

I only got my royalties for July-December 2008 last week. So yeah, publishers take a while. (Except Disney. If you do work-for-hire for Disney, that check will be in your hand pronto. The other side of this, of course, is that the oh-so-flexible deadlines other publishers have? They're cast-iron for the Mouse.)

I didn't read it as whining, either. A good piece. Thanks for the link. This in particular:

In Publishing telling the truth about earnings smashes the illusions publishers and writers want you to believe and, like breaking mirrors, it never brings you good luck.

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As others have said, if you're writing, write for the love of the writing. If you want to be published, work your butt off for the purpose of being published.

Looked at realistically, writing may well be a sickness. A good sickness, and not one I want to get over, but still....

Yeah 25kPA would be a fair whack more than my current wages - but the pressure to deliver a novel (and deliver very well) every single year wouldn't sit well with me at all. I've done the 'living hand to mouth' thing with contract work and it's horrible when the money's running low, your contract is about to end and your landlord decides they want to sell the flat =E

... had always thought NYTers were rolling in loot.
Guess you really have to be a Sking or Smeyers to earn a living in this cursed profession.
Writing rocks though, so I'll keep struggling on. Just seeing a book of mine in a store one day would be awesome ... even if it does just earn me a measely buck or two.

scarletpeaches said:

So this person's whining about a £25k advance?

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No, she's saying that when people assume that being on the New York Times best-seller list automatically guarantees HUGE CASH, they don't know the whole story.

Yes, $50,000/34,000 pounds is a decent year's wage, and I don't see her complaining about that. But the mythology here in the US at least is that when authors hit the best-seller lists, they've got it made! Rolling in cash! Rich forever! Buy your own plane!

That's just not the case, and I think it's helpful of her to share some real figures.