Advance Advice
Rachelle Gardner today posted this article discussing how much of an advance an author should want from a publisher–are big advances always better? Now, I’m nowhere near the stage where this is relevant for me, but the more I (and any aspiring author) learns about the publishing industry, the less scary it becomes, and the better prepared I am/we are for that day when we get The Call! Check out what Rachelle has to say.
It’s a great article (most of hers are) and something definitely to keep in mind when it comes to the business side of things. However, for some reason, I never think of the money when I’m writing. If you ask me, “Kate, why on earth are you working so hard?” I’ll never consider the pay. I just want to see my book on a bookshelf. For some reason, I always forget about the payment part.
I agree, though, that the more knowledge we have, the easier this all seems to be. I read writing blogs (the process part) and publishing blogs (the business part). Each day, I feel more and more ready for this side career! Great post!
Hello Kate! Thanks for dropping by.:) I guess in part it depends what you’re looking to get out of writing. I would consider it a “given” that all writers who would take the time and effort to write novels love writing. Whether or not they want to pursue it as a career is a different issue. Perhaps the writer already has a job he/she loves, and would consider writing to be either a hobby, or a fun way to earn a little extra money. Either way, the financial aspects of the business would not be that big of a deal. But then there are those who love writing and want to pursue it full-time. These people can’t just look at writing as a fun hobby–though they clearly love to write. In this situation, the writer would hope to earn enough money from writing to pay bills, eat, and be clothed (at least).
Either way, if we want to be published, we really need to understand the business, and this is just one aspect of it. I completely understand not being motivated by money, and I don’t think any of us are at heart. We write because we love it, and we work hard to finish our novels because we want the story to be told. If someone wants to give us money for it, so much the better! 🙂 Thanks for your comments!