Author Surveys and Other Fantasies

Surveys of authors are all the rage. Some purport to answer who makes more money, Traditionally published authors or those who Indie publish. Or are Hybrid authors the top money-earners? Are incomes going up or down? Where do authors make their money? How much directly from writing? How much from other author-related endeavors? And so on and so forth. Other surveys suggest they’ve uncovered the best and most over-hyped marketing approach.

While these surveys have entertainment value, relying on them for actionable information may ask too much.

Let’s do a thought experiment on income. Which person would you rather be, A or B?

Author A is a full-time author who works approximately 1800 hours a year. She independently publishes five books a year, advertises heavily, and spends considerable time and energy on marketing. She hires editors, proofreaders, and cover artists. Author A pays for quality audio books, including the narrator, studio mix, etc. She has a backlist of forty books. Her income is $275,000, which is an increase of $50,000 from the previous year.

Author B’s profile is quite different. She works approximately 600 hours per year on her author business. She has an agent who has secured publishing contracts for two series, each of which requires one new book a year. Her critique group helps guide her story decisions to the point she can turn it over to her agent, who acts as a developmental editor before the publisher takes over publication duties. She limits her marketing efforts to social media and a marketing co-op with friends who write similar stories. Her income is $10,000, a 20% decrease from the previous year’s $12,000.

Go ahead, make your choice before you continue reading. I won’t ask you to tell anyone, not even me.

The problem with choosing is you don’t have all the information you should have. I neglected to tell you that Author A’s expenses before taxes this year are $250,000. That’s up $50,000 from the previous year because Author A spent a lot more money on advertising this year. Her net income before taxes remained the same: $25,000. That means she made $13.88/hour pre-tax for her work each year—slightly less than local McDonald’s workers. Since she can’t live on $25K a year, she works several part-time jobs to cover living expenses. She’s considering giving up writing and going back to work full time.

Author B’s expenses ran to $7,000. Her net income before taxes was only $3000 or $5/hour. But, $5,000 of her expenses related to attending two national writing conventions, which she had done as a fan before she became a published author and would attend regardless of whether she was an author. It’s her vacation. Plus, Author B’s full-time job provides her with health and retirement benefits, paid time off, etc. Her income dropped because she stopped writing a third series. It was more than she wanted to do.

Author A is the proclaimed success story: She’s a six-figure author. Her income increased 25% year over year. Author B is having a blast. She enjoys her writing and loves interacting with fans and hobnobbing with the rich (maybe rich?) and famous (at least in some circles!) authors at conventions.

As did my initial thought experiment, many surveys rely on gross income for their analysis. That is basically meaningless. Someone who plays the slot machines eight hours a day will have a huge gross income. And after a year, the casino will own his house, car, first child . . .

Surveys about marketing practices are similarly flawed. They ask for anecdotal evidence. What do you find works best? What’s over-hyped? What are you doing more of and what have you stopped doing? The results aren’t without value: they show trends—at least for people who answer surveys. Perhaps successful folks don’t bother. How could we know without access to more information?

Please, do not misunderstand my intent. There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing as a hobby (even if for tax purposes you call it a business). Hobbies bring all kinds of psychological and social benefits, even if we have to pay for them. And if that’s you, well, this blog is much like those surveys: it may be interesting on some level but is not of great use.

If you want to make a profitable business—full-time or part-time—from your writing, then I encourage you to take surveys with a large salt-shaker worth of skepticism. Focus on your profit, not your top-line income. And consider the time you take to generate that profit. You don’t get any more hours in the day just because you are a writer. Make the most of the ones you have.

Anything about author surveys that you wonder about?

* * * * *

James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree series. Full of mystery and suspense, these thrillers explore financial crimes, family relationships, and what happens when they mix. To learn more information about Jim and his books, check out his website, https://jamesmjackson.com. You can sign up for his newsletter (and get to read a free Seamus McCree short story).

An Interview with Cynthia Kuhn by E. B. Davis

“Real friends tolerate different points of view.”

“Not toxic friends,” I said.

Cynthia Kuhn, How to Book a Murder, Kindle 1358

To help save her family’s floundering Colorado bookstore, Starlit Bookshop, newly minted Ph.D. Emma Starrs agrees to plan a mystery-themed dinner party for her wealthy, well-connected high school classmate Tabitha Baxter. It’s a delightful evening of cocktails and conjecture until Tabitha’s husband, Tip—hosting the affair in the guise of Edgar Allan Poe’s detective C. Auguste Dupin—winds up murdered.
 
In a heartbeat, Emma and her aunt Nora, a famous mystery writer, become suspects. Emma is sure the party’s over for Starlit events, until celebrated author Calliope Nightfall, whose gothic sensibilities are intrigued by the circumstances, implores the bookseller to create a Poe-themed launch event for her latest tome. Throwing a bash to die for while searching for additional clues is already enough to drive Emma stark raven mad, but another shocking crime soon reveals that Silvercrest has not yet reached the final chapter of the puzzling case.
 
Someone in this charming artistic community has murder on the mind, and if Emma cannot outwit the killer, she and her beloved aunt will land behind bars, to walk free nevermore.

Amazon.com

 

The fate of their late parents’ Starlit Bookshop is in the hands of sisters Lucy and Emma Starrs. Main character, Emma, the younger sister, decides to increase customers by planning store events. Unfortunately, the one off-venue event she accepts to help gain recommendations ends in murder. To get off the suspect list, Emma must find out whodunit.

Due to the murder victim’s complex life and finances, the case isn’t easy to solve. He was married to Emma’s high school nemesis, served as the chair of Aunt Nora’s Silvercrest College English department, and involved with several business deals that could have provided motive for his demise.

How to Book a Murder, the first book in Cynthia Kuhn’s Starlit Bookshop mystery series debuts on December 7. This is Cynthia’s second series. Her first, A Lila Maclean Academic Mystery series, is now on Kindle Unlimited!

Please welcome Cynthia Kuhn back to WWK.                                           E. B. Davis

 

There’s a river, mountain views and snow by Halloween. Where is Silvercrest in Colorado?

 

Thank you so much for having me on Writers Who Kill! We have had snow by Halloween in the Denver metropolitan area, which always seems a little surreal! The imaginary Silvercrest would be southwest of Denver, right at the foot of the mountains next to a river (that I also made up). The river’s proximity is inspired by Morrison and Estes Park, both of which have water running alongside the main street.

 

When high school nemesis, Tabitha, comes into the bookstore, Emma immediately feels as if she needs to prove something to the woman. Do we all feel like that from our high school detractors? Why does anyone go to high school reunions? People change.

 

Good questions. It probably could go in a variety of ways, depending on how we feel about revisiting people or places. But Tabitha has been positively awful to Emma (and others) in the past, so she prompts a strong reaction.

 

Even though Emma dislikes Tabitha, Emma makes a deal to oversee the murder mystery dinner when its planner vamooses. Why does she do that?

 

Starlit Books is floundering. They need the money and Emma has event planning experience from her doctoral program years, so she impulsively offers to take the job.

 

Why is their red tabby named Anne Shirley?

 

The sisters are fans of L.M. Montgomery, who was their mother’s favorite author. Backstory secret: their own names are also inspired by her work.

 

Although Emma is the younger sister, she takes on the challenge of planning events and marketing the bookstore to save it from bankruptcy. Why hasn’t Lucy done more to save the store?

 

Lucy was happy to take on the management elements but found herself overwhelmed, so she had to let the marketing and special events go. Her parents used to divide the same work up when they were in charge, too, so it does work better as a two-person job.

 

After finishing her PhD, Emma decided to return to Silvercrest to help save the store. Why did she apply for a tenure-track teaching position if she knew she couldn’t take it?

 

Emma didn’t know when she applied for the tenure-track position months earlier—it’s quite a long process—that Starlit Books was in trouble. When she found out, she immediately decided not to accept the teaching offer and went home to help instead.

 

What did Emma do for her dissertation?

 

Emma wrote a novel with a critical preface examining the works of women mystery writers of the Golden Age as a historical precedent. It was the kind of dissertation that creative writers wrote at the school I attended. (I was in the literary studies program there, so I wasn’t able to choose that option, but I would have loved to!)

 

Aunt Nora, Lucy, and Emma all like purple. What draws them to that color?

 

I honestly didn’t notice that they all did—how interesting! But I don’t blame them. It’s compelling to me too.

 

Calliope Nightfall nicknames Lucy, Romance, and Emma, Raven. Why?

 

Calliope believes that bestowing a new name on someone is giving them a gift. It’s a little unusual, but so is Calliope, whom I adored writing. Her personality just kept getting bigger and bigger.

 

Is Lucy a talented artist? Calliope loves Lucy’s sketch of her.

 

Lucy is very talented and could certainly go further with her artistic abilities if she wanted to do so.

 

Emma characterizes autumn as “she.” What gender would Emma characterize winter as?

 

It would likely depend on the writing situation and her purpose.           

 

What is a “terminal degree?”

 

A terminal degree is the highest degree awarded and can serve as an eligibility requirement for certain jobs (PhD, EdD, MFA, etc.). 

 

When Tabitha publicly accuses Emma and Aunt Nora of her husband’s murder, why don’t they get a lawyer and slap her with a lawsuit to shut her up? Tabitha’s accusations could hurt the store’s business.

 

It never even occurs to them. They’re not the litigious type, for one thing, but also they think her behavior is, as always, simply terrible. In other words, it’s Tabitha being Tabitha.

 

What is “family language?”

 

Certain phrases that are learned or used within families—for example, Emma notices that two related characters use the same phrasing, which is attributed to their father.

 

Why does Emma have mixed feelings about joining Jake’s West Side writers’ group?

 

On the one hand, she and Jake have been in competition forever. There is definitely some baggage there. On the other hand, she wants to finalize her novel and thinks this group could help her do that.

 

When Emma is stressed with too many things on her schedule simultaneously, she focuses on the present, here and now. Is that her way of coping?

 

Absolutely! It’s the same principle as “one day at a time.”

 

Is a phone recorder actually the video function on the phone? In Colorado, is it legal to record a conversation if the person recording is part of the conversation?

 

Some states, like Colorado, have one-party consent, which may come from the person who is recording. And no, it’s not the video but the voice memo app.

 

Who is Phryne Fisher?

 

She’s a character in a series of detective novels by Kerry Greenwood that have been adapted into the TV series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (and film). The 1920s-era costumes are so gorgeous that they’ve been featured in an exhibition.

 

What’s next for Emma and the Starlit Bookshop?

 

In the second book of the series, there is murder and mayhem…at a library gala!

Cynthia Kuhn is an English professor and author of the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries and Starlit Bookshop Mysteries. Her books have been Agatha Award and William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant winners and were shortlisted for the Daphne du Maurier Award and Lefty Awards. She currently serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and the multi-author blog, Chicks on the Case. Originally from upstate New York, she lives with her family in Colorado.

 

Website: cynthiakuhn.net

Twitter: @cynthiakuhn

Blog: chicksonthecase.com

Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2MPiEMh

How to Book a Murder: https://bit.ly/3hvzCgw

I am to Blame for Decreasing Author Incomes: A one-way conversation

By James M. Jackson

Much of the world blames Amazon for the decline in author incomes. Here’s the truth: I am to blame, not Amazon. Well, I’m not all of the problem, of course; but a tiny bit does belong to me. A critical component of economics theory is how supply and demand shape prices. Part of the problem (the demand side) follows good economic logic on my part; the supply side of the problem demonstrates my economic foolishness. Let me explain:

Shall we start with the demand side, where I claim I am driven by economic logic? Thanks for your indulgence, because at least that part doesn’t make me look stupid.

There would be no Amazon if I didn’t buy stuff from them. (I suppose it’s clear that “I” includes a gazillion other people.) I do not buy print books for retail price, which means I rarely venture into a bookstore. Why should I pay full retail when I can buy the same book online and have it delivered to me in two-days’ time? My TBR (To Be Read) pile will hold me at least that long, and I don’t need the immediate gratification. I make an exception to the full price rule when I purchase a book in person from an author I know, but of the 1,000,000 books published in 2018, I don’t know very many of their authors, so that is cold comfort.

I have given up serendipitous “finds” by not wandering through a bookstore. But honestly, ever since I abandoned the self-help section, my choices have been driven by recommendations from people I know, authors I already read, and interviews I hear on NPR.

And if the author is well-known, I’ll get the book from the library. My taxes and donations pay for the library; I don’t feel guilty about this, nor do I object to people borrowing my books from the library. I love libraries. Always have; always will.

I tried Kindle Unlimited for a year. It was a test to see if I saved money. I didn’t—I don’t read enough books, and many of the nonfiction books I read aren’t available on that platform. But if it or any of its kin saved me money, I’d gobble it up like a mallard on white bread. Saving me money means someone—usually the author—is losing money.

So that’s not so bad, really—me being willing to take the deals the publishing business is offering, even though I know they’re not in the long-term best interests of my author community? Right? It makes sense. And it makes sense to millions of other readers. What, you wonder, is this irrational part I alluded to.

Because I am an author, I also affect the supply side of the equation. I add a book a year to the available titles. Economically, it makes no sense for me to do this. If I had spent the same time making burgers at McDonalds or performing any other near minimum-wage job for which I could qualify, I would have made more money than I have from my six published books.

Being an author is pure economic folly. Yet, I have done it for more than a decade and plan to continue. Unlike many of today’s authors, I do make money and pay taxes on it. But it is a pittance, and if I didn’t have outside income, I could never subsist on my profits. I’ve signed publishing contracts with little or no advance, and I’d do it again for the right opportunity. I accept the terms offered by Amazon—even if that means they take 65% of the value of my novella sales.

I continue to write short stories for which I receive token compensation. My little drop in the supply of books ocean is trivial—but combined with hundreds of thousands of others like me, we present a problem for all authors because we add to the supply and are willing to work almost for free.

Which means, I am personally stupid or we’re missing something from this economic equation. I add to my personal economic balance the pleasure I receive creating stories people enjoy reading. I love meeting fans, and other authors. I make no claim that I must write. I choose to write and that makes me part of the problem for those who think they must write.

*****

James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree mystery series. Empty Promises, the fifth novel in the series—this one set in the deep woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula—is now available. You can sign up for his newsletter and find more information about Jim and his books at https://jamesmjackson.com.