Q&A (and brownies) with J.J. Murray discussion

Many writers believe they will become rich once they become I once thought this, too, since my first contract was so incredible--roughly twice my yearly teacher salary.

Ten published novels later ...

Um, well, hmm. I still have my day job, a mortgage, two car payments, bills, a son going to college year after next, some more bills, I need socks and T-shirts, I could use a trip to the optometrist ...

Here are some facts:

1) The payment for your first contract will probably amaze you and make you want to quit your job. Do not quit your job.

2) The payment for your second contract (should you get one) will be roughly 8-10% of your first contract. This will also amaze you. Good thing you didn't quit your job.

3) The publisher will say something like, "Well, in this economy, we can't afford to give you more than ..." This is a true statement. Book sales aren't exactly skyrocketing.

4) Royalties are not that royal. The average writer gets paid royalties only twice a year, say in June and in December, provided sales of his/her books the previous six months have paid off his/her advances. If sales have been slow, a writer gets no royalties and actually gets a statement that shows how much he/she "owes" the publisher. This will depress you.

5) Standard "rates of return" (% of retail price):
Hardback: 12-15%
Paperback: 6-9%
Electronic: 2-3%

Using the info in #5, let's say you get an advance of $50,000. (Yes! Whoo! Party!)

Calm down now.

Your hardback sells for $20. You "receive" roughly, say, $2.50 per sale (12.5%). You would have to sell 20,000 hardbacks to earn your advance back.

Say you only sell 10,000 hardbacks. You still "owe" the publisher $25,000. Not to worry because ...

Your book comes out in paperback and retails for $7, so you get 56 cents per sale at 8%. At 8% of retail per sale, you must sell around 45,000 paperbacks to pay back the remaining $25,000. Thus, you've sold 55,000 books (way to go!) only you still haven't earned any royalties.

None of this counts your agent, who takes 15% of everything you make.

Just telling it like it is ...

I don't care what anybody says, if I get a check for even $1000, I'm quitting my durn job and moving to Curacao. LOL

I am sure it is difficult making a living at art. It's why so many writers still have at very least a full-time job, I'm sure. I've just spoken to a writer from this site who told me some crazy stuff about her last book promoting tour. She put out way more money then she actually received to assist in the marketing of her stuff. She also has two jobs.

Having said that, the day someone gives me a quarter for something I've written will be a blessing. I published poetry a while back. Of course no one purchased the books except, you know, family and friends and mom's coworkers and folks at slams/readings. I was so excited to receive $1.65 in royalties. My family made fun for weeks because I was so happy. I actually got to see my name on a check for something I wrote. I framed that check and kept it for years until I lost it during a move. It wasn't worth cashing, clearly, but it made me feel like an author rather than an aspiring writer. Then again, I was in my early twenties and got excited about everything back then. Come to think of it, I'm in my early thirties now and I still get excited about everything.

Thanks for the info, JJ.

Vacirca, I agree that it would be exciting to get a royalty check, regardless of the amount.

It is good to know the money side of our art. We often get caught is the craft and forget the industry.

Some "new" info on the money side of writing:

I have sold +/- 100,000 books, but only @ 900 were e-books. Just a drop in the bucket, right? Check out the bucket:

900 x $6 = $5,400

I get 25% (!) of this amount applied to my advances. Thus, those so-called "measly few" books (or 0.9% of my sales) earned me $1,350 or $1,147.50 after my agent gets his cut.

That ain't chump change.

Either way, congrats for getting money for something you wrote. Holla!

Reality check: As soon as I received my royalty money, my older son said: "I need new basketball shoes."

And here I was worried that this money wouldn't have any uses ...

*ROTF JJ, your comment reminds me of how we shook our father down for cash every chance we got.

My pops used to call my brother and I "the money pits" when we bombarded him with requests for wants (some needs) as teens. He would say, "I thought I was raising children, not digging money pits." Then he would tell us how his country (Guyana) kids begin working as young as nine to help out their families. My brother would sigh and mumble, "Here we go." And I would say, "But Pops, you came to this country so your kids wouldn't have to, remember?" Then we would hold out our hands steadily in front of him. He would try to slap our palms away. And we wouldn't budge. Finally he would get his wallet, which told us we won, and he would resignedly slap the money requested into our palms. Of course we would whoop and hug him and run off to purchase whatever we couldn't live without for the moment. It became an almost-ritual, I think. That is, until we got our first part time jobs.

Poor things. A dad's work is never done.

But I have a question: for those of you who have sold your work--fiction, articles, etc--how does it feel to get that contract and/or advance? Does it get less exciting over time? Do you still celebrate like you did when you first started selling your work or are you now disappointed?

Hi J.J.

I don't know if this question belongs here or not. But this is a question I think only you can answer. It has to do with an author's rights to their work. I recently read on another author's website that she got the rights of her books back. She would be re-issuing them. However since the series was a big one and began as an ebook series. The book I was looking for is gone until further notice.

My question is was the contract with that author and publisher, a typical one for unpublished authors?

My contracts provide that I give up my rights to my books for a specified time until the publisher is done with it. I have always retained movie/film rights.

SOMETHING REAL, for instance, went from hardback to trade paperback then to paperback. There's not much more they can do with it, right? So I have full rights to that book. I thought I had full rights to my first (RENEE AND JAY), but Kensington is thinking of re-releasing it, so ...

As for the rest ... (honestly) I'm not entirely sure. In a way, having a publisher keep your rights for a while isn't a bad thing since they can put your work out in another form much more easily and quickly than a writer can.

As for it being "typical," I think so, but again, I have a fairly standard contract.