The economics of being a writer

WeaselFire · Jun 13, 2013

Books live on. So do contracts and royalties. I was reminded of this when I got a royalty statement yesterday. A book I wrote in 2007 that was published in 2008, and was obsolete about eight weeks later (tech book), is still paying royalties. For the first quarter of 2013, I earned $9 on that book. Which is nine bucks more than I had before.

The point is, write. A lot. Books hang around forever, and can keep paying off forever. Even long after they should have died on the remainder table. The more books you have hanging around, still paying, the better your income will be. And that's the economics. Write one gargantuan best seller or a thousand crappy books, the money is still the same. So never be discouraged by not topping the sales charts.

Heck, at this rate I only have 22 more quarters before the advance for this book is paid off. Then I start getting to keep the money.

Jeff

CheshireCat · Jun 13, 2013

Definitely. Even if your books don't sell especially well, the industry (ebooks) or your circumstances (new publisher, bestsellerdom, whatever) can and will change over time. And, trust me, when you've been doing this for decades, and can look back over a substantial body of work, your chances of earning continuing income, even if only a little bit per book, increase considerably.

My backlist is consistently earning me six figures every year in royalties, and with a possible film deal in the offing, that could increase dramatically. Pun intended.

In the meantime, I concentrate on frontlist, writing the best books I can. I count on the advances for the under-contract work to live on, but those royalties certainly do make things easier on the budget.

Just remember that out-of-print does not mean dead. If your publisher isn't interested or hasn't the resources to reissue the book, get the rights back and either epublish yourself or hang on for better days.

But always reserve your film rights so you can be in control of possible sales there. With so many channels and networks now, and so many of them airing original programming, our books can become goldmines for us.

Deleted member 42 · Jun 13, 2013

Also, remember that a new book spurs the sales of previous books, especially now with ebooks that often remain available indefinitely.

Michael Davis · Jun 15, 2013

Medievalist is right. I've got 18 stories released and each time I have a new novel hit the outlets, my back list experiences a bump in sales.

Laer Carroll · Jun 15, 2013

Medievalist said:
...remember that a new book spurs the sales of previous books, especially now with ebooks that often remain available indefinitely.

Good point. Even reading as much as I do, every few weeks I come across a writer who’s been around for a long time. I somehow missed them, maybe because their covers were bad, or the blurbs made a certain book sound bad, or any number of reasons. And I love their work.

I’ll first try to find their previous books in the library. Failing that, I look for paperbacks. But if the cheap route is out, I’ll grumpily buy their first hardback. And often I’m off on a reading spree, wallet be damned.

The economics of being a writer

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

CheshireCat

Mostly purring. Mostly.

Deleted member 42

Michael Davis

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer