No Bucks in Books?

Is it worth it monetarily to write a book?

I am not so sure nowadays. What is selling now in non-fiction? Politics, politics, and more politics. Anything to do with going green and the current economic crisis is hot right now.

Otherwise...books about diets and the metaphysical usually do well. Write a book about how an angel told you how to lose weight and get rich in this economy...best seller I'm telling you.

I got a book out of the library...one of the schmaltzy ones about publishing...you know...filled with secrets...secrets I tell you! The book is called Publishing Confidential: The Insider's Guide to What it Really Takes to Land a Nonfiction Book Deal by Paul B. Brown.

The author says things that are commonly known such as the fact that publishers are not the most skilled at marketing books. In the end you will have to be the one to bear most of the responsibility for being both a writer and the marketer of your book.

He also talks about contracts and negotiation. I was terribly naive about contracts and still am to some extent. It is good to slow down, take a deep breath, and don't sign something until you truly understand what you are signing. There is always room for negotiation. And when and if I see another contract in my lifetime I will heed my own advice!

On the subject of money...I have found out the hard way that if it isn't in writing...you are screwed. Assume nothing unless you have it in writing. I also found out that if you are a mere contributor to a book, assume there will be no money coming to you unless you were smart enough to have an amount written in your contract. I have a relative who writes for a living and she said she had to stop writing chapters for other people's books because there was no money in it. In the end the editor gets both the money and the credit. If you are a novice writer like me, however, your contribution can be a foot in the door for other projects and work.

Now let's look at some of the advice given in this book about how it works when you are the author of a whole book being published. Some authors get money up front, Brown says. I wonder how many nowadays.

He says that the best you can hope for is half the money up front when you sign the contract and the other half when the publisher accepts the manuscript...that they have read it, are hapy with it...it is ready to go.

Specifically he says:

"Some contracts say you get half on signing and the other half on publication-and remember that it can take a minimum of nine months from the time you turn in the manuscript in until the book is published. In that case it would be twenty-one months )twelves months to write the book, plus another nine months to wait) until you got your money.

And that is a better deal than the fairly typical offer of one-third on signing, one-third on acceptance, and one-third on publication. And it is certainly better than what is becoming all the rage among publishers (especially if they pay a lt of money up front): one-fifth on signing, one-fifth on acceptance of half the manuscript, one fifth on the entire book, one fifth on publication, and the final fifth six months after publication."

He ends with...the question...do you still want to write books?

That is...even if you do get a publisher to want to put your book out there in the first place!

I think it is extremely rare for anyone to make a whole lotta money writing books. I want to write books for the purpose of helping others, because I have books in me that just need to be written, and for the exposure... hopefully leading to other more lucrative writing jobs. I will not be naive to think that I will make much money writing a book. Motivation is important...you have to know why you are writing.

Here are my questions for you...what has been your experience with signing contracts for written work? Do you believe one can make money by writing books or are there better paying jobs for writers?