How much per hour?

Joycecwilliams · Jul 13, 2008

I am in the midst of editing and rewriting my novel Bruised Fruit. I work on it constantly, and wish I had been keeping track of the hours spent working on it. I was thinking this morning "What would I be making an hour?" when it gets published.

I get paid for writing my column but this is different. I'm thinking by the time I get done, maybe it will be $1.75 per hour.

SpookyWriter · Jul 13, 2008

Joycecwilliams said:
I am in the midst of editing and rewriting my novel Bruised Fruit. I work on it constantly, and wish I had been keeping track of the hours spent working on it. I was thinking this morning "What would I be making an hour?" when it gets published.

I get paid for writing my column but this is different. I'm thinking by the time I get done, maybe it will be $1.75 per hour.

Hard to say. But for example, if it took you 500 hours to write and double that to edit then you are at around 1500 hours. If you sold the book on advance of $5000 then your hours paid to write and edit is roughly $3.35 an hour.

Of course if you never sell the work then you should be allowed to deduct the expenses on your tax returns.

Joycecwilliams · Jul 13, 2008

That's a great idea Spooky..

maestrowork · Jul 13, 2008

SpookyWriter said:
Of course if you never sell the work then you should be allowed to deduct the expenses on your tax returns.

Actually, not really.

SpookyWriter · Jul 13, 2008

maestrowork said:
Actually, not really.

JoNightshade · Jul 13, 2008

I do not even want to THINK of how much I get "paid" per hour... oh man. It's even worse if you count in all the trash you wrote beforehand, to get good enough to write that one novel...

Kryianna · Jul 13, 2008

Author Holly Lisle recently did a survey on her mailing list about how much you pay to write your novel. She didn't break it up into the hourly costs, but she did use a writer's day job salary to figure the number. Not counting expenses, the average book takes a novelist over $26k to write. Rather sobering, huh?

http://howtothinksideways.com/novel-cost-survey.php?awt_l=PDf6F&awt_m=1eirVSXOQk_XgP

astonwest · Jul 13, 2008

I think I'd probably find out that even with a huge advance, I still paid to publish.

Joycecwilliams · Jul 13, 2008

Wow.... I should stop writing. I'd be rich.

Appalachian Writer · Jul 13, 2008

Joycecwilliams said:
I am in the midst of editing and rewriting my novel Bruised Fruit. I work on it constantly, and wish I had been keeping track of the hours spent working on it. I was thinking this morning "What would I be making an hour?" when it gets published.

I get paid for writing my column but this is different. I'm thinking by the time I get done, maybe it will be $1.75 per hour.

If you're lucky! I can't imagine how many hours I've spent writing, rewriting, writing some more....you know the drill. If my book is never published, does that mean I owe myself money?

Joycecwilliams · Jul 13, 2008

Appalachian Writer said:
If you're lucky! I can't imagine how many hours I've spent writing, rewriting, writing some more....you know the drill. If my book is never published, does that mean I owe myself money?

I think soo.....

but I'll be in the poor house with you.

How much per hour?

Joycecwilliams

SpookyWriter

Joycecwilliams

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

SpookyWriter

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

Kryianna

astonwest

2 WIP? A glutton for punishment

Joycecwilliams

Appalachian Writer

Somewhere in the hills....

Joycecwilliams