Today I received a royalty statement and payment for my story in Love At Large for the first 6 months of 2010. I receive a tiny royalty from that short story every six months like clockwork. My royalties total just shy of $10 a year.
Go ahead and laugh. But a buck’s a buck.
More importantly, that not-quite $10 in royalties is proof that the book is still selling six years later. It’s available in both print and e-book formats. You won’t find it stores, only online, but it’s still out there and still being purchased by readers.
At the time I wrote "Love Bytes," I was at the beginning of my professional writing career and the only book I had out was Too Big To Miss. Now, with eighteen contracts spread across three series, of which six novels are already in print and one on the precipice of launching, I look back on this short story with warmth and fondness. It was one of my first born and it still makes me proud.I’ve only had two short stories published. The other is "Ho Ho Homicide," an Odelia Grey short story written for a holiday anthology. The proceeds of that book went to charity. I’d like to do more short stories, but with deadlines for books coming at me every four months, it’s just impossible at this time. Instead, I will rejoice in Love at Large and Love Bytes, knowing that my very first short story is still making the rounds.
4 comments:
Love it!
Like a vampire? More like an annuity. Congrats.
Congrats, Sue Ann. What matters most is that the book is still available and selling! My first four books were published by a small press, and a decade plus later, they're still in print, selling slowly but steadily. It makes me happy, and twice a year I go out for dinner (OK, or maybe coffee) on the royalty check.
And given that you're writing three series...I'd really feel like a slackard if you said you were writing short stories regularly as well!
you are an inspiration! (love that line, too: books are like vampires ... barring a stake in the heart they never really die.)
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