Alison Kent's Blah Blog

Courtesy of my son. Rick Rubin has done for Neil Diamond what he did for Johnny Cash. Go and listen. (Okay, the link is courtesy of my son. I still have Neil on vinyl, and have seen him at Reunion Arena in Dallas and twice at Houston’s Summit before it was Compaq Center before it was Lakewood Church!)

The DH and The Perfessor are Feedster’s XML Feed Of The Day – YAYAYAYAYAY!

If you’ve been bloghopping at all since the beginning of the month, you will probably have heard Harlequin and Silhouette authors talking about royalties arriving this month. Harlequin’s royalty statements are mailed every April 30th and October 31st from Switzerland. You do the postal math. *g*

The only books I get royalties on straight from the home office are my five Temptations published between 1996 and 1999. I signed with my agent in 1998 while she was at Writers House. That means I still get a statement through them covering my first three Blazes and my two Bouquets written as Michaila Callan. Everything else comes through Spencerhill Associates, the agency Karen established when she left Writers House.

Harlequin releases all N.A. reserves against returns by the fourth royalty statement on a book, meaning by that time – two years or so after a book’s release (aka 4 six-month periods) – a book has pretty much earned out all of its North American sales. Many foreign sales $$ have come in by then, too. If there is no activity for a period, then there is no statement issued. Reissues and foreign sales are what keep a book alive.

The only statements I received in this packet were for my first and fifth Temptations as they were the only ones with any activity in this period (Jan 2005 – June 2005). I thought the differences in the earn-outs were interesting.

FOUR MEN & A LADY, published in October 1999, has earned $13,109.88 to date – and I happen to know it was the #1 bestselling Temptation that month. That number includes North American (US and Canadian) sales, as well as sales in the UK, Australia, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, Brazil, Latin America, and Korea. This royalty period, believe it or not, I sold 795 copies in Spain for royalties of $34.15. *gg*

CALL ME (7/96) is a different story. The royalties this period were for the reserves of the mail order reissue in May 2003 – 2850 copies for royalties of $346.12. The foreign sales on this book were to the UK, Australia, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, and Latin America. The book has earned a total of $21,495.09.

(Note: It’s taken 9 years to earn that amount, while the advance on my fourth single title (not #’s 1 – 3!) was more than that.)

I hate to be all about the $$$$, but when this is my only real income, I have to be. But what I wanted to point out was the decline in individual book income from 1996 to 1999 to the tune of $8300+. Yes, I know. Not all books will perform the same, except when those books are in a category line, they tend to be a lot closer than that! If authors across the board experienced the same, I have to say the signs for Temptation’s demise were there for quite awhile.

Now I’m anxiously waiting for the money from both agencies to arrive, (and for Kensington royalties which I think arrive around year’s end)! Of course, I’m not expecting much this go round from HQ. This royalty period cut off in June, and KISS & MAKEUP wasn’t released until August. My last HQ publication was MOTHER, PLEASE! in May 2004. Next year should be better!