In the interest of freeing up some blogging time for writing, I'm going to link to a very important post Dean Wesley Smith made about the real price of traditional publishing. With upfront advances and the prestige of working with a publisher, traditional publishing still holds appeal for some authors. But is it worth it, especially with advances for genre works shrinking and right grabs for life plus seventy years? What income might a first-time author expect to see from one traditionally published book over thirty-five years, and how many books would an indie author need to sell to reach that income every year? The answer may surprise you. Of course, best-selling authors may have better deals than the one Smith describes, but if you don't have that clout, make sure you read whatever contract you sign carefully.
And now back to Chaos Season for me. I may not finish the first draft by June 30th, but I should be close. Hopefully I can finish by mid-July at the absolute latest.
3 comments:
I know I wouldn't have sold as many books on my own. Certainly not enough to pay my mortgage. Living on it, no, but then, I never wanted to.
I'm still at the "coffee (or tea) money" stage, but I expect that to grow over time as I publish more books and gain more fans. Someday I would like to write full-time, though the company I work for offers very good benefits.
All authors have to pick the path that's right for them, and everyone has different reasons for writing. No matter which path you pick, you need to be informed.
I don't think I could have filled my car's tank once with what I got from "traditional" publishing.
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