A few posts up-thread, on January 10, I posted about a woman I coached through the book writing and submittal process, and that her book was accepted by a niche publisher. To give a bit more information: the woman is a retired lay-missionary. She and her husband went to the field rather late in life, and spent 20 years in various Pacific islands. The publisher is our denominational publisher, and the book is a missions memoir. They publish six books a year in a missions reading program. I told her the stories she was writing would make a good one of these books, and that she had a unique story that only she could tell, and that our people needed to hear her story. She hesitated at first, but finally wrote enough of the stories in a thread, and, as I said above, the book was accepted.
She recently received the contract for signature. The book is considered a work-for-hire, and the payment she's receiving is very nice. I can't say what the payment is, but both she and her husband are in shock. Tonight at the public library (she doesn't own a computer) I helped her polish a few things, and she turned in the manuscript. I told her that the payment she will receive is more than the sum total I've earned from my writing since I first received a check for an article in 1993.
I'll count her success as my success, and use it to keep on going for a while, a little envious, perhaps, but thrilled for her.
About my sales, the less said the better.