Want to know how an author’s royalty check breaks down? Read Lynn Viehl’s post on “The Reality of a Times Bestseller” and be either shocked or vindicated, depending on what your viewpoint is…
It took her the better part of a year to get royalty payments on her top-20 bestseller. Sigh.
So no, I don’t write for the money. Shoot, if I did, I’d actually have something polished and finished and ready to send off for submission. I really, really don’t. I write because I love it, because it makes me happy to find that perfect word or find that magic plot point twist that I somehow worked into the beginning of the story without even knowing it. I’m practical (maybe too practical) and I know that even if I was one of the lucky ones I wouldn’t be able to quit my job if I sold a book. But that’s okay.
I am one of the lucky ones who has a good job (even if it doesn’t pay that well) and I have relative freedom to do whatever I want in my free time as long as I get my work done. It’s something that’s unlikely *crossed fingers* to fall to a recession, and I work with some really quality people.
Perhaps I’ll never write a bestseller (even though the Publishing Game my parents made for my gifted class in 5th grade said I would!). Perhaps I’ll have to rethink my stance on self-publishing (especially since I have such wonderful artistic parents). But I can’t shake the dream of someday standing in the company of my favorite authors, holding a copy of my own book. And I don’t want to.
Dream big.
(Guess I ought to write some more on that NaNovel, eh? 😉 )