Sunday, May 4, 2014

My first royalty statement

I apologize to all of you who actually bother to read these posts.  As many of you have found out, I have the attention span of a lemur.  I will eventually write & post part three of what acting has taught me about writing.  I expect it to be completed in four parts. 

The fact of the matter is I'd rather being taking a quiz on which classic rock band I am (The Clash) than writing a blog.

I did want to take a moment and give a reality check to some authors.  I know, had a blog titled that already.  I think the cold, hard truth is more effective.

I happened to get a royalty statement for my work put in from August to December of last year:  One of my authors sold 5 copies of her story.  Another sold 6.  The runaway success sold 90.  I assure you I put in at least 100 hours of work helping these authors perfect their stories.  So, for my efforts, I earned $9.26.  The decimal is in the right place.  One of my friends sincerely earned $0.45.  Really.  Another got a royalty check for one penny.  BTW, I've left that publishing house and once my contract is officially up at the end of the month, I'm going back to freelancing.  I don't think I'm going to bother to collect my paycheck . . . 

Ask yourselves again why you write.  And remember that the hard part of writing is selling the story, not writing it.

Was that a little negative?  If Emun Elliott makes you happy (he makes me happy), think of him.  If you're more of a Johnny Depp or Ian Somerhalder fan, think of one of them.  Or chocolate.  Chocolate makes the world go round.

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