9 of 43

Write now Article Tools

Page 3 of 5

to me until the revised manuscript was received. So I worked on this novel for almost three years before I ever received any type of compensation for the work I had poured into the manuscript.

Trust me, the advance, while not a tiny one, was not in the hundreds of thousand dollar range and surely didn't cover three years worth of income for me. Plus, I wouldn't receive any royalties from the book until that advance had been made up in sales, if it ever did, and believe me, in this industry, it is not uncommon for a book to not sell enough to cover an advance.

I'm not saying there's not money to be had in writing; there surely is, but being a novelist, you will be expected to put a lot of work into something up front, and whether or not you'll ever receive compensation is a gamble with odds of winning the lottery or scoring big in Vegas being better than the odds of making a fortune on your novel.

Eventually, if you make it to the ranks of the big boys, novels can indeed provide a nice chunk of change and manuscripts that command good advances, but that isn't going to happen overnight, if it ever happens at all. If you can't write for the love of writing and are only writing in order to make a ton of money, you might as well hang up your pen now.

You Mean, I Don't Have a Say?

Just when you think the worst is over, the manuscript is perfected, the editor has signed off on it, and you are getting ready to go to print, even more fun begins. There's proof copies, galley copies, choosing artwork, approving fonts, and on and on and on.

Guess what? For the most part, your opinion means very little. Why they send you 'approval copies' on your book, I will never know, since the things I thought would be best are not what the final version used.

You would think that since it is your book, you would get a say in how the final product looks, wouldn't you? Perhaps with a small publisher, you might. If you self publish or use a vanity press, you probably do have a say. But when you play with the big boys, they pretty much control every aspect of your book, and about the only thing you have left is the fact your name will be on the cover as the author - and did you know, if you have a common name or a name they don't like, they may even suggest a pen name for you too?

Kill It - A Kill Fee?

Okay, so the sleepless nights are over, the manuscript is perfected, all the cover design and other decisions have been made, a publication date has been set, and now you are in queue to wait for

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The realities of being a writer?
We want to hear your view. Write now!