West Orange High School March 25, 2019

Intro J.A. Sutherland & Richard Grantham www.darkspace.press Books Focus on business, not craft Why talk about money?

J.A. Sutherland www.alexiscarew.com >100,000 copies sold since 11/2014 >90% read through rate (Book 2 to Book 3) >$350,000 earnings (through 2018) J.A. Sutherland www.alexiscarew.com

Taxes and Storytelling What does this have to do with storytelling? How much are taxes? Keep your receipts Startup expenses

Craft & Writing “Everything said applies mostly to the speaker, their genre, their writing process, their books, their experience, and only to the best of their knowledge at that particular point in time, and may not be at all applicable to you, your process, your market, or your story.” -- The disclaimer I wish would pop up over the speaker’s head at every writers’ workshop Example: Cut in editing

The Writing Habit 1000 words / day 300,000 words / year 3 – 100,000 word novels Form the habit Keep the habit It’s hard. Train yourself: Specific time Specific place Train your brain “When we are here at this time we write words.”

Critiques, Workshops, Conventions Remember the caveat: Everything you hear is what works for them. Workshop participants tend to be about how they would write the story.

My process … Try to write every day, 1000 words First draft is in Scrivener (http://www.literatureandlatte.com) Edit the whole story in Word Two editors Write in the morning, then edit and market later in the day

So now you have a story finished … Perfect Done is better than perfect Minimum viable product

Making the decision … Are there norms for your genre? Can you run a business? (Hint: You have to either way) Do you understand the money difference? The $500 myth If you submit to publishers, you can always take it indie – not so much the other way

SCAMS Money goes from publisher to author, not the other way around. If a “publisher” asks for money, run. There are legit self-publishing “packages”, but they’re few and far between and you’re better off finding good providers yourself. https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/

Traditional Process Complete manuscript Write a cover letter Submit to agents Wait

Start thinking like you’re paying them … Reader buys your book for $10 You pay the Store $3 You pay the Publisher $5.25 You pay the Agent $0.25 You keep $1.50 $100,000 (10,000 copies) $30,000 $52,500 $2,500 $15,000 $5000-$10,000 advance

Self-publishing Reader buys your book for $5 $50,000 (10,000 copies) You pay the Store $1.50 You keep $3.50 You paid for a cover: $600 You paid for editing: $1000 - $4000 $50,000 (10,000 copies) $15,000 $35,000 $34,400 $30,000

Agents Bias and incentives Contract review & negotiation? Um … www.alexiscarew.com/bow

Lawyers Work for you Paid one time Can be fired without continuing to pay Know the law www.alexiscarew.com/bow

Publishers Have lawyers Are not your friend Have a short-term view How much did we make last quarter? Your mindset should be longer Life plus 70 www.alexiscarew.com/bow

Contract Clauses “The Publisher shall have the sole discretion to determine what, if any, promotional services the Publisher may perform for the work …” www.alexiscarew.com/bow

Non-compete Clauses “The Author agrees that during the terms of this Agreement he will not, without the written permission of the Publisher, publish or authorize to be published any work under this name or any other, including blog posts, short stories, nonfiction articles, novels or the like.” www.alexiscarew.com/bow

Pride and Prejudice and Seth Grahame-Smith’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Book Contract $4 million contract Okayed by an agent who made $600k Reserve Against Returns clause www.alexiscarew.com/bow

Indie You have control … … which comes with responsibility It’s full of contracts … Covers Editing Publishing Rights No advance, you pay for cover & editing Cover photo license Royalty split company Chinese company Short story contest allromanceebooks www.alexiscarew.com/bow

Copyright Life of the author plus 70 years Exists at creation Register it anyway You sell pieces First serial rights Worldwide English language audio rights for seven years Film options Graphic novel rights Merchandising rights

Indie Process Buy a cover Find an editor Format Upload Market Write your next book

Why you shouldn’t write You’re too young

Why you shouldn’t write You can’t make a living as a writer

Visibility

You are running a business Income/expenses Taxes Advertising/marketing Self-published Editors Cover design Contracts (and have reviewed by an attorney)

It’s hard. The habit of writing is hard. Editing is hard. Marketing is hard. Submitting to agents is hard. Rejections/1-star reviews are hard. Finding an editor is hard. All of these are generally easier than most jobs.

How? Set and keep your writing habits. Read widely. Read in your genre(s). Know what you’re writing about. Travel and experience things. Talk to other authors. Writers’ conferences and workshops. (keep in mind the caveat) Understand your market.

Think about your favorite author.

Resoures www.darkspace.press Sutherland@AlexisCarew.com www.facebook.com/JaSutherlandBooks Twitter: @JASutherlandBks (dangerous) www.kriswrites.com (strong bias against tradpub) www.authorearnings.com Facebook: 20booksto50k www.kboards.com