Hello, my friends! I thought I knew almost everything I needed to know about the book publishing business.  I know now that I KNOW NOTHING! To be honest, I'm a relative newbie at this, and I thought that since I'd attended dozens of webinars on getting a book published, I was smarter than the average inexperienced author. After all, I'd self-published a book and managed that rather well.  I knew how to format a print and ebook, design or shop for a premade cover, and I knew my way around KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). What more did I need to know?  

So, when I signed my contract with my Publisher, I thought I had it made. All I had to do was submit my pristine manuscript and a good blurb with a hook. If I had a cover, I'd submit that, too. Once the book was published, I could sit back and collect my hard-earned royalties. What a rube!  In today's publishing world, the author's work is only beginning. 

I've been following Kate McKean for a couple of years. She's a Literary Agent and Author who, most recently, nailed her first book deal, a nonfiction, Write Through It, about the creative life of publishing. Her newsletters were filled with step-by-step descriptions of her journey to publication. It was a lot of work. The ink was barely dry on her deal with a major  New York publishing house when she began to develop her marketing strategy.  What?  She's putting together a marketing strategy? Yes, she works with her Agent and the publisher's marketing team, but she is deeply involved in making sure the book sells. Without sales in the tens of thousands, one doesn't make much money.  Since my Publisher is a small independent, marketing is substantially up to me, too. Just like Kate McKean with the big-time New York publisher. 

I knew all that, and I put together my own marketing plan, too. But there were some things I took for granted. Like how much each sale of each print or eBook actually generates in royalties.  I got a good percentage with my publisher and didn't bother to read the fine print buried under "Payment of Royalties", which the distributor is responsible for.  That was dumb. I missed the part about the 90-day lag between the sale and when the vendor verifies and reports to (pays) the distributor, who in turn, pays me and my publisher.  There are also deductions for printing and handling, and by the time the royalty is posted to my account, that good deal I was counting on is substantially less.  Until I figured that out, I was upset and confused. But that's the thing. Unless one is already a bestselling author or big-time celebrity, few authors rake in the money like we think they do.  If you watch the late shows,  the celebrity authors are making the rounds, plugging their new books. It takes work and dedication to write a good book, and work and discipline to make any money from it.  That's the hard part for many authors. We are usually introverts, and putting ourselves out there, talking about our books, and doing something foreign like marketing isn't always fun and certainly not easy.  But we do it because we want our books to be read!  That's it.

So, my friends, am I still upset about the royalties? No, because that's not why I write books. I write because I enjoy writing stories that will entertain and enlighten readers.  You, the reader, pay me far more than that direct deposit to the bank account. But that royalty payment doesn't hurt my feelings, either.