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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Writing Craft » Book Business » Page 8

Book Business

Your Money is Your Business or Keep a Lid on How Much Money You Make

By Steve Laubeon March 5, 2018
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I think it is a huge mistake to reveal how much money you make as an author. The details of your royalty advance on your latest deal should not be shared with other authors. It is similar to finding out the salary of the co-worker in the office cubicle next to yours. When I was a retail store manager we had major problems when salaries were discovered…I had to stop a near fist-fight between two people who had been friends.

Money Can be a Measure of Worth

Money is viewed by many as a measure of worth; i.e. a measure of the worthiness of your work. Consequently if you contract for a $5,000 advance with AlphaGammaDelta publisher and a month later, your best writing friend, who is at the same stage in her career as you are, contracts for a $8,000 advance with the same publisher for a similar project…what is your reaction? Sure, at first, it is excitement and joy for your friend. But later, in private, you will naturally begin to wonder about your publisher’s commitment to you. You think, “They must like Sally better than me!” Jealousy and bitterness can set in.

I’m not saying that this will happen to you, but I caution you with every ounce of my being, be very careful about ever revealing monetary details of a book contract with anyone. It can become a form of gossip that does no one any good. I know of an e-mail trail among authors that was very free with this kind of information and consequently there was tension towards a particular publisher for not paying everyone the same. This is unreasonable and unfair…and doesn’t help anyone.

Over the years I’ve seen a few thousand book contracts. Those deals have landed all over the board. The timing of a publisher’s economic situation and certain management directives can change quarterly (even weekly!). The relationship the author has with the publisher, the relationship the agent has with the publisher, the perception of value that the publisher has of a project… They all influence each situation uniquely.

But we tend to compare contracts as if all contracts are equal. Trust me, they are not.

Also be aware that some contracts have a non-disclosure clause in them for this very reason.

A Major Blunder in Etiquette

Years ago I was sharing the stage with a number of faculty at a writers conference for a panel Q&A. One author took the microphone and, without thinking, blurted out the amount of money they were paid on their last contract. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room since no one really knew how to react.

Afterwards an editor turned to me and said, “I never want to work with that author. There’s no filter nor is there any common sense.”

I Just Want to Help Others Know 

As far as sharing your successes as an Indie author? Again, be careful. You may want to help others succeed like you have. That is admirable. But at least limit your information to things other than your income.  Sharing what you spent on editorial, production, cover design, and marketing can be helpful for comparison. But declaring that you made a million dollars last month might not be the right message for your audience.

How Am I Supposed to Know What’s Normal?

One cannot analyze or compare their own income, contract, advances, or royalties with absolute accuracy. Recently I was asked, “What does the average author make in a year?” Instead of answering I asked in return, “What do you think?” They responded, “$45,000 per year?” I had to blink a few times and said, “That might be an average if you include a number of bestselling authors in the formula. But that also means there are a lot of others who would have to drop a zero from that number (down to $4,500) to create an average of $45,000.” I then told the story of a writer who had a day job unrelated to writing but wrote 10 published books by getting up at 5am every morning to write for two hours…and then helped the kids get ready for school and then went to work. For that writer, the books were a supplement to his income, not the primary source.

One author may get a one time deal for $15,000, but never write another book. Another author may write one book every two years, with each getting a $5,000 advance, but also publishes 30 paid articles a year. A third author may write a novel once every five years and nothing in-between, but their advance for their novel is $100,000. A fourth author may be prolific and publish eight novels a year, four with a traditional publisher and four as an Indie author…with an annual combined income of $60,000. Which one is normal?

You see the problem? There isn’t a straight answer to the question of what is normal when it comes to a writer’s income. Your agent is the best source of information. The agent knows what is typical in a situation and whether your deal is a good one or not.

Meanwhile, the Bottom Line is to keep your bottom line to yourself and be content with it being normal for you.

 

 

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Category: Book Business, Career, Communication, MoneyTag: Book Business, Contracts, Facebook, Gossip, Money, rumors

Six Questions for a Literary Agent

By Steve Laubeon February 26, 2018
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1. What should a client expect from you as an agent?

That I will work hard.
That I will keep on top of the ever changing marketplace.
That I will maintain my integrity as a businessman of honor and honesty.
That I will protect your interests.
That I will tell you the truth, about the industry, about your writing, about your ideas.

Read moreSix Questions for a Literary Agent
Category: Agency, Book BusinessTag: Agents, Book Business, Proposals, Rejection

Marketing vs. Publicity

By Steve Laubeon September 18, 2017
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by Steve Laube

Recent I have run into a common misunderstanding. Some writers use the words "marketing" and "publicity" (or P.R. "public relations") as synonyms when actually one is a subset of the other.

There are marketing departments that have a publicity division or a marketing department that outsources their publicity. The two go hand in hand and should compliment each other.

The …

Read moreMarketing vs. Publicity
Category: Book Business, Marketing, SteveTag: Book Business, Marketing, Publicity

Author Platforms Can Destroy Your Life (aka Making Money from Friends)

By Dan Balowon March 7, 2017
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American society contains a very interesting subculture built around using your friends and relatives to make money, either as a primary or secondary source of income. I must admit it bothers me when an individual will view those around them mainly as a revenue source instead of relationships to experience and serve. It is also interesting that a number of the most successful multi-level marketing …

Read moreAuthor Platforms Can Destroy Your Life (aka Making Money from Friends)
Category: Book Business, Branding, Marketing, Platform, Self-Publishing, Social Media, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Marketing, Platform

Writers Learn to Wait

By Steve Laubeon December 5, 2016
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Good publishing takes time. Time to write well. Time to edit well. Time to find the right agent. Time to find the right publisher. Time to edit again and re-write. Time to design well. Time to market well. While there can be a lot of activity it still feels like “time” is another word for “wait.” No one likes to wait for anything. Our instant society (everything from …

Read moreWriters Learn to Wait
Category: Book Business, Contracts, Get Published, Indie, Marketing, Steve, The Publishing Life, The Writing LifeTag: Agents, Book Business, Contracts, Editors, Get Published, Marketing, Traditional Publishing

Who are the Major Retail Outlets for CBA Books?

By Steve Laubeon November 28, 2016
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[This post had to be updated and revised in March 2017 and again in August 2019 due to numerous changes in the industry.] The question came up recently asking which retail store is the most important to a CBA publisher for selling print editions of their books? And to which store are the most books sold? CBA is a label to describe the Christian book market. It used to be an acronym for Christian …

Read moreWho are the Major Retail Outlets for CBA Books?
Category: Book Business, Book Business, Book Sales, Economics, Marketing, Publishing History, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life

Actually, It IS Rocket Science

By Dan Balowon August 16, 2016
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I love rockets and space travel stuff. I grew up watching Mercury, Gemini and Apollo manned missions to space and built plastic models of various rockets and capsules. The technology still awes me. At age twelve I watched liftoffs of manned missions and wrote down the comments of the flight announcer who updated how high and fast the rocket was flying. I’d calculate speed in miles per hour from …

Read moreActually, It IS Rocket Science
Category: Book Business, CareerTag: Career

Reaching a New Generation of Readers

By Steve Laubeon June 6, 2016
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Last Friday I posted a fun song about Millennials. Earlier this year a number of articles told of a Pew Research report that declared there are more Millennials in America than Baby Boomers. There are now over 75 million people ages 18-34. Boomers (ages 51-69) are no longer the largest demographic. (And there are more 22-years-olds today than any other age group.) This was inevitable, of course, …

Read moreReaching a New Generation of Readers
Category: Book Business, Career, Creativity, TrendsTag: Book Business, Career, readers, Trends

Publishing Acronyms

By Steve Laubeon February 22, 2016
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After being in an industry for a while there is a natural tendency to speak in code. Acronyms flow freely and can be a foreign language to those new to the conversation. Below is an attempt to spell out some of the more common acronyms in the publishing industry and some specific to the Christian publishing industry. They are grouped by topic in a rudimentary way but in no particular order. If …

Read morePublishing Acronyms
Category: Book Business, Book Business, Communication, Contracts, The Publishing LifeTag: Acronyms, publishing

Five Things that Changed the Publishing World

By Steve Laubeon December 7, 2015
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Over the past twenty-five years ago there have been five things that changed the landscape of the publishing industry forever (the first three below happened in 1995). Amazon.com Dan Balow wrote an excellent piece on this earlier this year. It still is quite astounding when you think about it. In 20 years this little online startup (founded 1995) became the most dominant online retailer in the …

Read moreFive Things that Changed the Publishing World
Category: Book Business, Book Business, TrendsTag: Book Business, Changes, Trends
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