Sorry to keep all you budding authors waiting to hear why I have a full-time day job. It's that day job that sometimes prevents me from posting and writing.
Yesterday and today I was slammed. I have another conference call in 8 minutes, but wanted to get something in here.
I went to my Pilates class - yeah!! Can't wait to sneeze tomorrow...
Okay, for those who think being an author is glamourous and lucrative, I'm about to rock your world!
Don't get me wrong, I love being an author. However, there is a lot of hard work involved, and some days I just want to give it all up...but that's a whole other story - being persistent.
Back to why I have a a full-time job - because I want to eat, drive my nice car, and have a roof over my head.
Here's the scoop: most authors, like myself, only make a very small portion of the book's profits. On average, an author makes 7-10% of the net receipt. Using the 10% scenario, that means that if the book sells for $16.95 and the publisher actually sells it for $16.95, then the author gets $1.70.
However, most of the time, the publisher sells the books at a discount. How do you think Borders can sell it to you for 20% off? When a publisher sells a book to a bookstore, they give them 40% off the cover price (or $10.17). In that scenario, the author receives $1.02, but wait, it gets better! Publishers also sell their books through distributors who get a 50-60% discount. When that happens, the book sells for $7.63 and the author gets $.76.
When you see numbers like that you think, why wouldn't I self publish? Well, that is an option, but then you have to do all the work of marketing and selling. Plus, the publishers can definately get your book way more exposure than most authors can by themselves.
Now you know why I have a day job...
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