A nice cheque from BBC Audio Books - still only £78, mind you, but I can work on getting all those noughts filled in as I get better.
I'm not writing today because it's my first day back at uni and I want to keep my brain fresh for that - but I am still working on my horrible files and getting my books into some kind of order.
Last year I got a scary letter from the Inland Revenue saying they were keeping an eye on me and describing all the penalties for fraud. The letter had a distinct flavour of 'something lingering with boiling oil' about it, but I never heard anything after that, so maybe it's just a random scare tactic - or maybe they didn't believe that I earn so little? I wasn't too worried because I keep all my paperwork and I can prove that, yep, that was it, mate. No JK Rowling style royalties for this writer. And don't I just wish I had a tenner for every time somebody says: 'I bet you wish you had her royalties!' On second thoughts, make that a hundred pounds! I deserve it for the aggravation factor.
Showing posts with label royalties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label royalties. Show all posts
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
I Need a Holiday
Writing is hard work - and it's just as hard if you're good or you're bad - it takes me exactly the same amount of effort to write a book that earns nothing, or a few pennies, as it takes other people to write best sellers.
What's triggered this sudden avalanche of gloom? My Virgin statement. Admittedly it's about 10 years ago now, but I wrote two erotic novels for their Black Lace imprint. The royalty statement came today - and I owe them £2.97. Add this to my ALCS result of £11.90, and I'm averaging even less than my usual penny an hour.
I'm stuck in the poverty trap of needing to have a day job, which takes time, energy and attention, which slows my writing, so I don't earn enough money to support myself, so I have to have a day job, which...
But, day jobs do have advantages, and one of them is paid leave. I can have a whole, glorious week at home, with pay! And, over the last ten years, what with foreign sales and reprints, my Black Lace titles did pretty well. So, I'll have a holiday and cheer up. I might look into getting Final Draft software as a kind of holiday project, oh, and do my books. I know they've extended the deadline, but they still need doing.
750 words today. Jen Black sent her critique of chapter two back, so I rewrote that again and then began chapter three - where the hero walks in. I know who he is now - he's the site manager of the only well-run site in the company.
What's triggered this sudden avalanche of gloom? My Virgin statement. Admittedly it's about 10 years ago now, but I wrote two erotic novels for their Black Lace imprint. The royalty statement came today - and I owe them £2.97. Add this to my ALCS result of £11.90, and I'm averaging even less than my usual penny an hour.
I'm stuck in the poverty trap of needing to have a day job, which takes time, energy and attention, which slows my writing, so I don't earn enough money to support myself, so I have to have a day job, which...
But, day jobs do have advantages, and one of them is paid leave. I can have a whole, glorious week at home, with pay! And, over the last ten years, what with foreign sales and reprints, my Black Lace titles did pretty well. So, I'll have a holiday and cheer up. I might look into getting Final Draft software as a kind of holiday project, oh, and do my books. I know they've extended the deadline, but they still need doing.
750 words today. Jen Black sent her critique of chapter two back, so I rewrote that again and then began chapter three - where the hero walks in. I know who he is now - he's the site manager of the only well-run site in the company.
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