It's All About the Money,
Honey
Jenna Petersen
This article comes from a Writing Question Wednesday question from my blog.
The Question: I was on another site (Romancing the blog), and one of the contributors was talking about the fact that she was a teacher as well as a writer, and it got me thinking, because I seem to recall on your website that you mentioned that you've been writing full time since 1999? I was wondering (not how much you make, because that would be rude ;-), but rather, are you able to support yourself completely on your writing, or do you rely on your husband's income? Do you know if most romance writers are able to support themselves completely (Well, I mean writers who write single title books like for Avon, and similar houses, as opposed to harlequin lines, where I know that the writers have to have second jobs.), or do most of them rely on another source of income--either a spouse or a second job? And I was also wondering if you'd decided to start writing full time before you were bringing in any money, or was it, once you'd made enough money, you decided to focus on writing full time? I understand if you don't want to answer...I just really want to be able to write, and only write full time, but I'm not married, and I don't want to get a second job, so I wanted to know if it's possible!
Ah, the money question. I have been writing full-time since 1999, but I didn't sell anything until 2003, so for 4 years I had no income whatsoever coming in. Okay, I take that back, I did a couple odd jobs during holiday times to help pay for gifts a couple of winters. But for the most part, I was income-less. If I hadn't had a very supportive husband with a great job, I would not have been able to write full time.
In fact, I still wouldn't. The small press/epublishers I've worked with give very small or no advance. And the earn out is not that big. My first check, from Arabella Magazine, which is now closed, was for $400 for my short story, "Dueling the Debutante". That was the first time I'd really made any money for my writing.
Even now I probably couldn't really support myself. Now don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the money I'm making currently (though I'll always take more). And I'm at the point where I could live in a very tiny apartment and not starve if I had to for some reason. That is a comforting thing, actually. But if for some reason El Guapo ran off to Argentina with a go-go dancer or something, I could not continue to live in the lifestyle I live now on the income I'm making by myself.
Also, writers do not get health insurance or any other benefit package. So as you're figuring out how much you have to earn to live on, factor in paying for your own health insurance and also setting something aside for retirement. Do most romance writers support themselves. I'd say, probably not. Most writers I know of and am friendly with either have supplemental income and insurance coverage from a spouse or they have a second job to pay the bills. There are the exceptions to the rule of people who do extremely well (someone was just telling me about a writer who 'had' to get a second home for tax purposes... oh, the green with jealousy). But I would not get into this profession believing for one moment that you're going to become rich.
First, it usually takes most authors years to sell. During that time, you still have to eat, pay your mortgage and occasionally go to the dentist. After you sell, you get your advance, but it's not like you get 'The Call' and two days later a check arrives. You're going to have to negotiate a contract (either via your agent or yourself... and trust me, your agent will get you more money than you can get yourself nine times out of ten). Then the contract terms have to be sent to a legal department. The legal department reviews them and writes up the contract. That goes back to your editor. Then your editor reviews them and sends them to your agent. Your agent reviews them. Sometimes items are missing or something needs to be added or changed. If that happens, she has to make adjustments and send them BACK to your editor and the publisher legal department. Eventually, the editor and agent are both happy with the contract and it is sent to you. If you read it and have questions, that can lengthen the process. Then you sign the copies and send the contract back. But it's not legal yet! Once your publisher receives your contract back, then it has to be signed by them. And not by your editor. Generally by your CEO or CFO. So that person may only sign things on a certain day a week. If it's Tuesday and your contract lands in his inbox Wednesday morning, it will be another week before he signs. Then the order for your advance check to be cut has to go to the finance department. But some publishers only cut checks once a week or once a month. So that can slow down the process. Also, if your publisher doesn't do split checks then they'll actually cut the check to your agent, who will send you your portion. And that extends the payment time by another couple of weeks.
Depending on the publisher and the circumstances, it can be a month to six months before you get from "Yes, I'll take the deal" to "here is your money". Some publishers, not naming names, have been known to take even longer.
And then there's the issue of the money itself. Okay, so for ease of breakdown, let's say you get a $10,000 advance for your book. And let's also make it a one-book contract (most of the time you'll be dealing with a two or three book contract). So the contract will usually state that you get one-half of the advance upon signing of the contract. And one half when you turn in a manuscript that is accepted (meaing once you get through all revision processes). So that means you'll get $5000 when you get that check. Except not. Because your agent will get 15% for her efforts. That means your check would be $4250. And now remember that unlike your employer, your publisher or agent won't be withholding funds for taxes (some agencies will do that for you, but more often than not it will be your responsibility). I'd hold back at least 30% for taxes just to be safe. So subtract another 1500 to set aside for your taxes.
That leaves you with $2750. Not a lot of money. And we haven't even discussed the whole issue of promotion. If you intend to promote your book (which you should, in my opinion), set aside another 10-20% at least for that purpose. And subtract another... $1000 from this portion of your advance. Which leaves you with $1750 to live on. For at least a few months. Because your editor will probably take a while to review the manuscript they accepted, write a revision letter and send it to you. Then you'll have a month or six weeks to incorporate those revisions. And then your editor will either ask for more... or accept them and put in the order for your remaining advance to be paid (again, your lag time between acceptance and check will depend on your publisher).
Can you live on $1750 for three or four or even more months? Most people probably couldn't unless they had a supplemental income.
But wait, there are royalties, right?
Um. Yeah... kind of. First you have to earn out that $10,000 advance. And then your publisher will hold back a certain percentage of your royalties based on projected returns. The percentage they hold back is in your contract (and a good reason to have an agent) and will depend on who you're publishing with. Sabrina Jeffries has a wonderful article about monetary breakdowns depending on cover cost of your book, your percentage and copies sold.
But also remember that copies sold really depend on your publisher as much as you. If you have a 20,000 print run, you're not going to sell tons of books because they just aren't out there in the stores. You could have written the best book ever and it won't matter.
So as you can see, it becomes a lot more complicated than just advances. And this is why authors have to work for the love of the story and the writing, because we just don't see a lot of money... especially on the front end.
Oh, and P.S., your comment about Harlequin authors having to work second jobs is actually untrue. Harlequin likes their authors to write two or three or even four or more books a year. If you can do that, you'll actually see more money coming in and faster (because of more advances lining up and royalties kicking in for multiple books at the same time). Versus a single title house might only allow an author to write one or two books a year (depending on the house). So even though you might get a larger advance or a higher royalty percentage, the money might not really be that different.
So my answer? I'm keeping El Guapo away from Go-Go Dancers.