Is This Just a Hobby?
In Which We Discuss Whether We're Still Authors If We Don't Earn Out or Publish Again 📚
I’m always blown away by the response to posts where I share royalty info and sales numbers, and last week’s post on my spring royalty statements was no exception. Big thank you to all of y’all for your support when I do that ❤️ You’ve only reaffirmed my commitment to keep sharing these figures so that bit by bit, and as more and more of us feel comfortable sharing as well, we can get a more accurate picture of what it’s like to be an author financially and what choices we should make in our careers that are best for our specific situations. You are all phenomenal!
This week a fellow author-passenger wanted to discuss their own earning out-ability and what that means for their career if it never happens. They write:
I have one book out (my debut from 2021) and it’s with a big 5 imprint. However, my sales have been completely dismal. I think I sold seven books in the last period according to my royalty statement. It’s almost like a joke at this point to see how low the number can go. I’m still about $1000 away from earning out and, at this point, I don’t think it will happen. I also never got a paperback though I assumed I would as it was mentioned in my contract. I’ve learned so much from my one traditional publication (and am still diligently working toward selling another book with my new agent!) but there are so many things we writers expect with traditional publication and it seems very hit or miss as far as these expectations being met. For example, I had very little marketing as compared to some of my friends’ books, but I suppose that’s due to being with a smaller imprint? I really don’t know. Anyway, hoping to have a better (read: more lucrative, lol) experience with my sophomore book—whenever that may be! But I also know the realities of this business, so it’s a real challenge sometimes to keep the faith that I’ll ever be able to consider being an author as an actual “job” and not just a very time-consuming hobby.
Eagerly Awaiting Earning Out, you’ve totally hit the nail on the head of what makes the earning out journey such a conundrum. On the one hand, we’re grateful for each and every sale and seeing those numbers on our royalty reports reflecting real people who bought our books is so magical, but on the other, the chart telling us if these sales make us “successful” or not based on if we’ve made back our advance is a real bummer. Like, sales are so beyond our control, and while I've had books that have earned out, there's no replicating what might have worked for one book so that it has the same outcome on the next. Or a way for anyone who has earned out to say, “Just do this!” and close that $1K gap. So much of whether a book sells out in the wild is just luck, or rather, a good book that strikes at exactly the right time for it. I know without a shadow of a doubt that you've already got the good book part down!
I’m sorry that your publisher hasn’t made a paperback version. In my (maybe too optimistic) viewpoint, it seems weird to me that your publisher won't do a paperback seeing as how you are so close to earning out and the lower price point of that format often gets a decent amount of buyers who don't want to spend extra on hardcover. I imagine there is some hardcover sales litmus test they do where if you pass it’s all systems go for paperback, but I don’t know what factors go into that. I know for THE SPELLS WE CAST (which is much further away from earning out than your novel), I didn’t pass the test and was told that they were waiting to see sales numbers in hardcover to determine if a paperback would be released. That contract, like yours, had paperback terms spelled out in it, but only terms on what would happen if a paperback edition was published, not a guarantee that one would be published. (If any of our readers have more behind-the-scenes publishing insight as to why a book does or doesn’t get a paperback run, please feel free to chime in in the comments or send me an email at heyjasonjune@gmail.com if you’d like to remain anonymous)
Same thing with marketing where there is some test happening behind-the-scenes to choose who gets what and when. I don’t know what factors went into it for having my books chosen, but somehow I have been very blessed to get so much hard work and marketing support from my publishers and wish I had more solid answers for you. Through their effort, I’ve seen how marketing departments want all the success for all of us too (as I truly believe our editors and every person in every department our books touch want as well), but that they are just as beholden to these formulas or whatever the deciding elements happen to be as we are. (Anyone with marketing insight or a look into any decisions made about our books behind the scenes, we’d love to hear from you too!)
As more and more time goes on, I’ve realized publishing is like a very confusing race where you ask the organizers how long the race is, but they just throw up their hands and go, “Who can say?” You don’t know if you should be giving it your all for a hundred meters or pacing yourself for a marathon. In another metaphor, people would tell you, “Publishing is a marathon, not a sprint!” but I’m talking in terms of each specific book’s life and how we can help it in that race toward earning out so we look like a good investment for publishers, because as you said, this is a business. What do we need to give of ourselves to position our body (of work) for success?
Who can say… 😩
In regards to this being a time-consuming hobby, I've recently had a mindshift that might help with this that was in large part influenced by similar factors to your story. My last four novels are absolutely nowhere near earning out, and most likely never will if their sales continue at the rate they've been going. I'm unsure whether I'll get another book deal, and it was starting to freak me out and put this pressure on me to come up with an idea that would SELL!
So I took a step back from writing for a minute and really put my heart into other forms of art that I'm currently in the newbie stage in, not necessarily in terms of training or talent, but in regards to having a ton of professional credit in. I'm jumping into more acting classes, writing screenplays, doing voice over acting, auditioning when casting directors give me the go-ahead. Things that I'm not getting paid for or getting paid very little for, what many would label “hobbies.”
What I’ve come to discover is, while I’m not getting paid much (if at all) yet, I’m having the time of my life. It’s reminded me of the joy of just creating, and that even if these are hobbies that go nowhere, I'm having so much fun. I’ve been doing this for the past year, and didn't write anything book-related for nine months. Then suddenly I wanted to write again, for me, for fun, and I'm having the best time, unsure whether this will ever get published or not. All this is a long-winded way to say, maybe that will help? Maybe jumping into other hobbies in any realm will remind you how much fun you can have when you’re following a passion just for you. Maybe framing your writing as a hobby and that being okay will take some of the pressure off and let you write what you enjoy. I think in the long run your enjoyment will shine through, and that ultimately a sale will happen, even if it takes a long time. But even if a sale never comes (and it’s one hundred percent valid to worry over that), you’re still a writer, a creator, an artist, and everything you make has value. You spent time doing something you love, you tended to your passion, and if that’s not valuable, I don’t know what is.
-JJ
(Quick recommendation: Rick Rubin's THE CREATIVE ACT really helped me see my artistic self outside of sales or professional accolades, if you haven't read it yet)
What about you, Ventorshipmates? How do you boost up your artistic side even if sales are low or the world-at-large hasn’t noticed your work yet? Tell us in the comments below, or if you’d like to remain anonymous, email me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com and I’ll include your thoughts without your name.
If you’d like to vent about anything author/writing related, write to me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com with the subject: VENTORSHIP. I’ll give you my take in a post, and we’ll crowdsource author opinions in the comments. You’ll remain anonymous, and any haters will be thrown overboard. Ultimately, I think you’re going to be buoyed up by author love and support as we realize we really are all in the same boat 🛳️
I have very strong, generally angry feelings about publishers that don't give paperbacks to books that did well in hardcover, and being $1000 short of earning out at a big 5 would definitely suggest doing well. I had to fight very hard to get one for my book that *earned out*, which made absolutely no sense to me - it's a whole new chance to get on shelves, particularly at B&N, which had already kicked it off. Why on earth would we not do that? But I know my imprint is particularly terrible about this, which makes me wonder if that's where the author is because there is legit no logic to these decisions that I can see.
Thank you for the transparency as always!! The lack of clarity makes it all SO MUCH more terrifying, right??