![]() Now, part of the standard publishing model says that I won't get any additional money for the book until it has managed to earn back the advance, which is done solely from the percentage of the cover price that "belongs" to me. ![]() I didn't just pull that figure out of my ass-that's the standard first advance for a genre novel, although very few people will get that exact number. Let's assume I got paid $5,000 for Rosemary and Rue. Look: when you calculate the average author's royalties on a mass-market paperback, it comes to approximately fifty cents per copy. Normally, it's more like four or five, and sometimes more, when some new site discovers my work and gets excited about the possibility of stealing it. Now, it's a rare day-and for "rare" read "non-existent," now that I have four books in print-that doesn't come with at least one torrent notification. I was honestly stunned when I got the first Google alert notifying me of an illegal download of Rosemary and Rue. When I first started publishing, I had no real clue how big the book piracy problem was becoming (and it's continued to grow since then the number of available torrents increases every day). "See! Piracy is a serious problem." - Penny Arcade. To be honest, I don't understand it either. My cats don't understand "Mommy can't feed you because people don't believe she should be compensated for her work." They also don't understand "People say they like the things I write, but they'd rather steal them than make sure I can keep writing." Mind you, this will eventually lead to my being unable to justify the time it takes me to write them, since an author who cannot make a living through writing must make a living through other means. Or, if you'd prefer, they can be illegally downloaded from the Internet. Please note the word "purchased." My books, which cost me time and sanity, and cost my publisher time and money, can be purchased from bookstores and online retailers everywhere. ![]() I have written books publishers have judged them commercially viable and worthy of publication my books can thus be purchased from bookstores and online retailers everywhere. I have worked a very long time to reach a place in my life where I could make that statement and not feel like a fake. ![]() I am about to preach to the choir, because I have no idea what else to do, and frankly, I am at a loss for other options. ![]()
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