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!
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Alison, I understand that it’s not really all about the money except, as you said, this is your income. It’s interesting for me, though, because it’s good to learn that what seems like a nice respectable little earn out for the book took over nine years. I read this off to my husband and he was silent for a moment, then said, “Maybe you’re not going to be quitting your day job any time soon.”
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Caro – Signing a multi book single title contract was what finally did allow me to quit my day job. (That and the severance I got that held me for about 6 months, ha!) That said, the bulk of those monies did arrive within 2 years. Everything since then has been piddly, as demonstrated above! But, hey. $34.15 fills up a gas tank!
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congrats to you, you deserve it!
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If I was an aspiring author, I’d be totally depressed by those figures. No wonder so many romance writers have day jobs!
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Or you write 4 – 6 books a year. :)
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Wow. I’m an aspiring author and this is a smack in the head.
You’re right — it’s not all about the money. I’ve always thought of pursuing a fiction writing career as something I’d do while holding down a day job or running a business.
As a single mom working on a master’s degree (and student loans will kick in once I graduate) plus a child a few short years away from college, this is an eye opener.
The dilemma is:
a.) Throw myself into trying to make it in fiction no matter what
b.) Find a balance between pursuing this dream while keeping my feel planted in the “real world” at the same time.
I’ll write because I love to write, no matter what. But this makes me realize I need to get serious about myself, whether I go with option a or b.
Not a good thing to read when I’ve been fighting a terrible funk for the last few days. Probably chronic PMS.
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Wow…this is what we’re talking about over in my writing group. Having to keep our day job because the money isn’t enough to keep food on the table. Okay, so what do you think takes quitting your day job? One book a year or several? And this is only if you get a pretty nice size advance, isn’t it?
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Alison, kudos to you for being upfront about the numbers. I think all writers, and aspiring writers, benefit when we share these things. Your numbers are right in line with my Harlequin intrigue first-year earn-outs. And you’re right, you don’t really know what your books will truly earn until years down the line, when you’ve developed a back-list that hopefully keeps getting re-released. If a writer later becomes a big seller in single titles, those old Harlequin titles will be like the Energizer bunny — continuing to earn and earn and earn every time they’re re-issued.
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Tess – I am definitely hoping for a lot of those reissues down the road! Which means, getting my butt busy now writing the bigger books which will warrant the reprints.
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Wow. I’ve been scarce and see what I’ve been missing? Very interesting to see how it all shakes out. Thanks for sharing. Most authors won’t and it’s such a mystery.