Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Writing Religiously: Royalty Checks

I wrote a science fiction book several years ago. Last week I received a royalty check for $5.52. It’s one of the largest checks yet!

A little despondent I showed it to one of my colleagues, who writes non-fiction. He said, “Keep writing, eventually all those little checks add up.”

My colleague only makes one, maybe two thousand dollars a year from his writing. He’s spent decades building his publishing base and he currently works hard in two careers . . . but the money he receives from publishers does help him get along.

Certainly most people do not write merely to make money, but it is nice to be compensated for the labor put into the work.

So, even though I most often write for free, I’m going to keep writing until the little checks start coming in. Then I’m going to write until those little checks start adding up.

5 comments:

  1. And this is why, when I say I want to buy a copy of your book, you shouldn't tell me not to. ;)

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  2. What can I say . . . I have my insecurities :)

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  3. I'm still up for editing it, if you ever want to re-release it.

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  4. I'm thinking about doing a major re-write . . . but I can't even think about it until I survive May. After that, everything changes!

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  5. Welp, you know where to find me when you're ready! ;)

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