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Personal

The writing career and all the moneys

One time I got a feedback email from someone who said that he had been laid off and wanted to start writing “to make some money.” And I wanted to cry.

My first writing paycheck was $300 and it was paid about a year after I got the initial assignment. (It was for RPG writing, and it paid on publication.)

And I know someone out there is going to say, “Heck, MY first paycheck was an “attaboy!” and a dirty sock that smelled like despair and cheese” – I know $300 was more than a lot of people get, but I think we can all agree that if you need money now and you start writing and you get paid 9-12 months in the future, you’ll be dead of starvation or dysentery long before that fat three hundred rolls in.

I’ve not been one to offer transparency with my income- I’m not comfortable doing so, and I seem to remember Carrie Vaughn writing an interesting comment about how it’s different for a woman revealing income, which I quite liked, but now can’t find it to quote it properly, so I apologize if it wasn’t, in fact, Carrie who said it.

But I do appreciate it when others do. And I’ll get to that in a moment.

I will offer a little breakdown of a book deal, and why when you hear someone got a $100,000 book deal, it’s not as awesome as you think.

Publishers Weekly: Jane Q. Author received a $100,000 book deal!

John Q. Wannabe: Dang, I only make $40,000 a year at my crappy job! I wish I could get that kind of fat money for writing!

Fact- This is a three book deal. So it is, in a way, three $33,333 deals. (In a way it is a $100,000 book deal, which I will also get to later.) Jane will get 1/3 of each book on signing, 1/3 on delivery of each final draft, and 1/3 on each publication.

  • Jan 1, 2013: Signing of the contract! Check to agent: $33,333 (breakdown- this is the signing payment, 1/3 of the advance for three books at $11,111 per book.)
  • Check to author: $28,333 (minus 15% for agent)
  • March 1, 2013: Book one is done, so after a few edits, final draft is turned in. Check to agent: $11,111 (Book 1 final draft – 1/3 of $33,333)
  • Check to author: $9,444 (minus 15%)
  • Book 1 won’t come out till spring 2014. Jane works on Book 2 and cross over into 2014.
  • INCOME FOR YEAR ONE AS AUTHOR: $37,777 — and that’s before taxes. 
  • March 1, 2014: Book 2 final draft. Check to agent, $11,111 (book 2 final draft)
  • Check to author, $9,444 (minus 15%)
  • May 1, 2014: Book 1 comes out. Yay! Jane is a Real Writer (TM) Check to agent: $11,111 (Book 1 now paid in full)
  • Check to author: $9,444
  • Writing commences on book 3. We get to a new year again.
  • INCOME FOR YEAR TWO AS AUTHOR: $18,888 – before taxes
  • May 1, 2015: Book 3 hits final draft $11,111 to agent
  • $9,444 to author
  • June 1, 2015: Book 2 comes out: $11,111 to agent (Book 2 paid in full. Didn’t feel like $33k did it?)
  • $9,444 to author
  • INCOME FOR YEAR THREE AS AUTHOR: $18,999 – before taxes
  • March 1, 2016: Book 3 comes out. $11,111 to agent (Book 3 paid in full)
  • $9,444 to author
  • INCOME FOR YEAR FOUR AS AUTHOR: $9,444

In four years, even without a cost of living raise, John Q. Wannabe made $120,000 before taxes.

Jane Q. Author made $85,000 before taxes.

Wanna know the worst part? If Jane earns $40,000 on book 1, and $35,000 on book 2, and only $20,000 on book 3 (total of $95,000, which is less than $100k) – she will not earn royalties on books 1 and 2, even though she made over $33,333 on each, because the full advance of $100,000 hasn’t been reached.

Suppose her books do well, something we all hope for. Once those advances earn out (for a total of > $100k)  she will start earning royalty checks and those will be paid every quarter or every year. That is, as I understand it, how authors make regular money. That and frequent book deals of course.

(My nonfiction book with Que that I wrote in 2006 pays monthly, a fact I would be much more excited about if I had earned out the advance. Now I just get an email every month saying, “Yep. No sales this month.” Only they do it in publishing speak with attempts to show me mathematically how the book has sold no copies.)

Now, as I said, I am not comfortable giving out my numbers (I am not a thinly veiled Jane Q Author- I did not receive a 3 book deal, nor did I receive $33,333 per book.) But some authors are comfortable, and the information is helpful and illuminating. John Scalzi recently broke down his income percentages for Redshirts to commemorate the launch of the paperback version. And Jim C. Hines recently gave a pie chart of his yearly income as a writer. (Please note that Jim also has a day job.) I urge you to look at both of these blog posts to discover why writing is not a quick path to streets paved with gold.

Anyway, the numbers are sobering, even the magical “six figure advance.” This is why being a writer depends on persistence, because even if you work you butt off to get that first deal, you still have to keep busting ass to make it to a place where you’re making a living wage.

I’m still in. Go eagle go!

Personal

That award post

Some like the award posts, some don’t, but I’m of the opinion that if you don’t tell people you’re out there, how will they know? So here’s what I’m eligible for this year. Vote as your conscience tells you to.

Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo)- my second (and last) year of eligibility. I’ve gotten permission to put part of The Shambling Guide to New York City in the Hugo packet, so I’ll have more to showcase than a wee little (but still pro) story of 1500 words. Sorry, this isn’t happening, folks. Will see what I can do.

I Should Be Writing – Best Related Work

And, uh, I think that’s it. I worked on a lot of work for hire stuff, school stuff, and the next book. I know I was busy… I would like to mention that even though I’m no longer editor, Escape Pod is still eligible for semi-pro zine.

So if you were a member of ChiCon or are a member of Lonestar Con (or you’d like to be a supporting member and get a TON of the best SF and Fantasy ebooks for the membership price of $50) you can nominate for the Hugos and Not-A-Hugo!

(Incidentally I found out this morning I’m nominated for the Above and Beyond Award, for writers who have done things for the writer community, which will be announced later this month. I think it’s a juried award, so there’s nothing to do/promote, only to say, that’s kind of cool! Thanks to whoever wrote about me!)

 

Personal, Travel

I return triumphant!

I’m back from my third Stonecoast residency, where in theory I was finally supposed to know what I was doing. I did a talk on podcasting with James Patrick Kelly, which was pretty damn cool, and we got some good feedback. (I recorded it, it will go live soon.) I workshopped a short fiction piece that takes place 50 or so years before The Shambling Guide to New York City, then workshopped the first chapter of book 2, tentatively titled Ghost Train to New Orleans. 

I have learned that sequels are hard.

I’m going to be working on my third semester project over the next six months, and finishing a book, and doing freelance work, so if you see me playing with my phone, knock it from my hand and watch me cry. Or at least ask me if I’ve done my wordcount for the day.

It was a strange residency in some ways, but I’m excited about my work over the next six months, especially working with my mentor, Nancy Holder. I’ll write more about my project when I’m closer to finishing. I may need some beta people to look at it, so I’ll be putting a call out later.

The friendships and connections I have made at residency were cemented further. It’s really great to connect with people who may not even write anything close to what you do, and still connect on the angsty writer level. On our day off, we had a presentation about life after Stonecoast, what do you do when you graduate and don’t have a workshop to look forward to in six months? The response among the students was all over the map – some thought about the end with horror, others felt reassured that “post-Stonecoast blues” happens to everyone, and others even looked forward to returning to a solitary writing life.

Personally, one of the reasons I chose Stonecoast over Clarion or Clarion West (I weighed many, many things, I may blog about it someday, but this was one of them) was I’d heard the intense “boot camp” feeling of six weeks of workshopping at Clarion can overwhelm a writer and many stop writing for months when they are done. They have to process everything they learned and they miss their Clarion friends and teacher. Stonecoast is an intense 10 day residency every six months for a total of 5 residencies, bookending a two year program. Coming home after a residency is always a bit of a shock but I usually jump right back into writing. It’s very similar to post-con letdown, which I experience several times a year. I was hoping that spreading out the experience over two years would allow for gradual absorption of what I was learning and lessen the shock when it was over. I fully expect to get bummed in July of 2014 when it’s not my turn to plan to go to Maine. But I’m also excited to graduate.

(And am I the only one who thinks that the family stress, travel stress, and expense of continuous semi-annual residencies would overwhelm one after a few years?)

Anyway, nothing very good or very bad lasts for very long. Enjoy the ups, tolerate the downs, and remember what Dennis Leary said about happiness:

Happiness comes in small doses, folks. It’s a cigarette butt, or a chocolate chip cookie or a five second orgasm. You come, you smoke the butt, you eat the cookie, you go to sleep, wake up and go back to fucking work the next morning, THAT’S IT!

Hopefully I can view the end of Stonecoast with that attitude.

Lastly, I’m hearing that many people came down with con crud (residency crud?) upon arriving home. I remain healthy and apprehensive.

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