A couple of weeks ago, my agent told me he'd received a royalty statement and cheque for me from Llewellyn. This statement was for the sales of my first published book, Attack of the Intergalactic Soul Hunters, for the period of July - December '06. When he told me the number of books I'd sold, I couldn't believe it. I was sure it was a mistake, and he'd get back to me saying it was really for another client's book. Not very positive of me, I know. But how else could I explain that I'd sold 812 books?
Yes, 812! Not fantastic numbers at all by anyone's reckoning, but here's the thing... My first royalty statement showed that, in spite of all my hard work promoting the thing, I'd sold barely over 300 copies in three months. That's what a book is supposed to make on its first DAY, my agent told me, not three months. My next statement was even worse - because of the number of returns (copies sent back to the publisher by stores), I now owed Llewellyn money! Well, not exactly - it came off the top of this new royalty statement - but it was still pretty depressing. It looked like Soul Hunters was beyond dead.
And yet, here I am today with the news that 812 copies of the book have sold in the latter half of 2006! That netted me a big fat check for... just under $200 US. Nowhere near enough to pull me out of my current economic slump, but nothing to sneeze at, either. And it shows that all the effort that went into promoting the book is paying off. By my estimation, Attack of the Intergalactic Soul Hunters has sold roughly 1, 000 copies, give or take. Still not great, but proof that I'm not down for the count! And more than enough to improve my mood. I think I'll take that cheque and blow it all on toys. Ha, ha, no really I'll use it to pay this month's cable bill.
Anyone out there who would like to purchase a copy of Soul Hunters can find it easily enough on Amazon.com, or they can use this link right here.
Until next time!
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- Timothy Carter
- Timothy Carter was born in Farnham, England during the week of the final lunar mission, and he turned 13 on Friday the 13th. He is a novelist, screenwriter, movie lover and Transformers fanatic.
6 comments:
Congratulations. It's always nice to be on the plus side of the ledger!
Timothy, excellent news! Yet strangely depressing, too. I've heard this kind of thing before from many writers. There's just no money in it. It's one of the reasons my own novels sit unpublished on my hard drive. It just doesn't seem worth the effort of sending them out. I love doing the writing but the only thing that would make the hassle of getting published worthwhile would be big rewards.
Heck, I've made $200 from ads on my blog in the past six months with no hassle at all! If I want to go broke writing for a living, that's obviously the way to go.
That's just the kind of inspiration to keep other aspiring novelists like me chugging along! Just when I was pondering the futility of it all, you swoop in and tell me there's actually money to be made from doing this. Not a living, maybe, but money nonetheless--money you wouldn't have had otherwise. Keep 'em coming!
Hello there, thanks for dropping by . I think I got that Video of Batiste linked from Crooks & Liars. And did I spy your profile pic as made on a Mac?
If you did, you are tre' cool. If not, you're still tre' cool, and it's nice to meetcha.
Keep writing; I've been working on a book about my "bipolar" nature for over 20 years, and it's saved my life. I thought it was going to be a killer self-help book, and almost got it published about the same time as "Listening To Prozac" was popular. As providence would have it, it wasn't published, and I eventually learned the deeper mystical nature of the experiences, which of course made the book unpublishable.
But given the nature of Internet on-demand publishing, I can write and market the book as I choose.
Peace
Thank you very much, all of you! And remember, this is just my first book. Once I get a few more out there, all earning royalties for me, then I'll really be able to celebrate!
Wendy, thanks for the kind words.
Graywave, if it was only the money I was after, I would have quit long ago. It has to be love, baby. You gotta love it to keep at it.
Bill, glad I could inspire you. I will absolutely keep 'em coming, provided you do, too!
Tim I think this is pretty good start, and let's face it the majority of books that sells 300 copies the first day have predictable plots and/or big big publishers to promote them.
I think you should be proud of you, pay your cable bill and try to use part of the money also for a little gift for you (or you and your wife) just to remind you that doing the thing that you love can also give you a material pleasure (which is never a bad thing ;-).
Thanks for the Amazon link, as soon as I gather a few books to order I'll take one! :-D
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