Thank you for sharing this - it’s so interesting to hear your perspective as a bookseller as well as a writer. Authors are shockingly underpaid given they fuel the industry and publishing salaries are generally low, & staff overworked. I think the cover price (let alone the discount price) of a book in no way reflects the costs of creating and publishing it - sales quantities have to be unrealistically vast for the numbers to stack up. I’m venturing into self-publishing this year which is giving me an even more pointy understanding of publishing finances!!
Anna, I just discovered your Substack through someone sharing your how to be a featured Substack post, and didn’t realize until I dove in that you’re Wendy’s co-author. I discovered the memoirs you wrote with her last year via Debbie Weil of [B]OLD AGE here on Substack and just wanted to tell you how helpful they’ve been to me caring for my mom with dementia. The way she described how she coped and the hacks she used to help herself and her overall spirit were so vivid and admirable. You’ve both brought such an important perspective to the subject and humanized a scary disease. I think about her words almost every day.
And I got the first 2 from the library so you didn’t get royalties from them but I’ve joined your Substack as a paying member. Just wanted you to know that those books are profound and meaningful and ones I recommend every time I talk to a fellow dementia caregiver.
Oh how lovely to hear from you, Rachel, and what lovely words. I am so pleased that Wendy has remained with you, as she has with me, and many, many other people. This is a true legacy, right? I’m so pleased to have you as part of my community here on substack now. I write a lot about Wendy so I hope you will enjoy it here. Xx
This is fascinating and thank you so much for spelling it out like this Anna. It’s a bloody joke isn’t it? And not to mention the business of second hand book buying which everyone seems to be doing now. I think there needs to be more awareness of how writers need people to buy their books new as non-writers don’t seem to get this! I haven’t had a royalty statement yet for Sins but assumed it’s because I haven’t yet paid off my advance. Should I be receiving one anyway? Xx
Thanks Lily, and yes, you should receive royalty statements usually forwarded via your agent from your publisher (or direct from the publisher) every six months regardless of whether you’ve paid off your advance, you will know how much you have to go.
And yes, people need to be aware that if they want to keep reading quality books, they’re going to need to help writers to keep writing them. Although interestingly I did receive comments from people who self-publish on Amazon that go said they wouldn’t be able to make a living through traditional publishing so that is something worthy of consideration x
Thank you for sharing this - it’s so interesting to hear your perspective as a bookseller as well as a writer. Authors are shockingly underpaid given they fuel the industry and publishing salaries are generally low, & staff overworked. I think the cover price (let alone the discount price) of a book in no way reflects the costs of creating and publishing it - sales quantities have to be unrealistically vast for the numbers to stack up. I’m venturing into self-publishing this year which is giving me an even more pointy understanding of publishing finances!!
Anna, I just discovered your Substack through someone sharing your how to be a featured Substack post, and didn’t realize until I dove in that you’re Wendy’s co-author. I discovered the memoirs you wrote with her last year via Debbie Weil of [B]OLD AGE here on Substack and just wanted to tell you how helpful they’ve been to me caring for my mom with dementia. The way she described how she coped and the hacks she used to help herself and her overall spirit were so vivid and admirable. You’ve both brought such an important perspective to the subject and humanized a scary disease. I think about her words almost every day.
And I got the first 2 from the library so you didn’t get royalties from them but I’ve joined your Substack as a paying member. Just wanted you to know that those books are profound and meaningful and ones I recommend every time I talk to a fellow dementia caregiver.
Oh how lovely to hear from you, Rachel, and what lovely words. I am so pleased that Wendy has remained with you, as she has with me, and many, many other people. This is a true legacy, right? I’m so pleased to have you as part of my community here on substack now. I write a lot about Wendy so I hope you will enjoy it here. Xx
This is fascinating and thank you so much for spelling it out like this Anna. It’s a bloody joke isn’t it? And not to mention the business of second hand book buying which everyone seems to be doing now. I think there needs to be more awareness of how writers need people to buy their books new as non-writers don’t seem to get this! I haven’t had a royalty statement yet for Sins but assumed it’s because I haven’t yet paid off my advance. Should I be receiving one anyway? Xx
Thanks Lily, and yes, you should receive royalty statements usually forwarded via your agent from your publisher (or direct from the publisher) every six months regardless of whether you’ve paid off your advance, you will know how much you have to go.
And yes, people need to be aware that if they want to keep reading quality books, they’re going to need to help writers to keep writing them. Although interestingly I did receive comments from people who self-publish on Amazon that go said they wouldn’t be able to make a living through traditional publishing so that is something worthy of consideration x
This was such an interesting post. I had no idea about how royalties and advances work - so eye opening!