TOUCHY TOPICS TUESDAY: the finances of getting commercially published

Today's Touchy Topic is the finances of getting commercially published, that is, how the money works for you, the author, when you are lucky enough to get your book purchased by a publisher who actually pays you money and prints the book. (I'll talk a bit about the economics of self-publication on an upcoming Tuesday.)

It's difficult to talk about this matter accurately for many reasons. Prime among them: publishers' calculations are complex and often difficult to ferret out, and writers, understandably, don't want to share the details of their royalty statements.

Which is why we should all thank paranormal romance author Lynn Viehl for sharing hers. Though I just came across the posts with this information, she actually shared the first installment in April 2009 and the second installment in November of that year. (Genreality, on which she posted this info, is an excellent blog on the reality of genre writing and publishing, well worth a look if you're a genre writer rather than generalist, so to speak. You might also check out Viehl's blog, Paperback Writer.) But though the specific calculations of book advances and royalty statements may have changed a bit since then, the information is really excellent.

If you're among the many good writers still in the ranks of what my friend Gerri LcClerc wittily calls "the pre-published," the first thing you may notice that Viehl's advance for the book in question, Twilight Fall, was $50,000. And yes, that sounds like a lot when you can't get anyone to buy your book for five bucks. Viehl has published almost fifty books under a variety of pen names (you can see her entire backlist here) and built a thriving, hard-working career; her advance reflected both facts.

Get beyond the advance amount into the calculations, though, and you'll see why I'm sharing her information. It gives you the chance to see how everything from agent fees and taxes to book returns affect the income from a book...how slow the income stream is in coming...how complicated all of the calculations are...and what the financial life of a successful writer is like once you look behind the gross numbers and get into the net.

You may see all this as depressing, and I guess that in some senses it is. On the other hand, work out there in the "real world" beyond writing isn't a walk in the park these days, either. I prefer to think of it in terms of "forewarned is forearmed." When you understand at least a little of the economics of book publishing, it's easier to work toward a truly sustainable career. And it's also easier to view those published authors you see on bestseller lists or at book signings as hardworking folks just like the rest of us rather than as lucky millionaires sitting around counting their money.

The celebrity authors may be doing just that. But the working writers are home, sweating over that next sentence.