Ah, the thrill of the acceptance letter. For a writer, there is no greater thrill than knowing someone valued your work enough to put it in a book and pay you a whole $25 for it!
$25 is actually the going rate for many anthologies these days. Sometimes it’s a little more, occasionally it’s a bit less. Depends on the antho and the publisher. The most money I ever made off a story sale was $100, and that was way back in the days when PlayGirl was still paying $100 for the story of the month for its readers forum. Last I heard, that amount had dropped to (you guessed it) $25.
I don’t know of anybody who’s ever gotten rich off of anthology sales. I do know a few folks who have managed to make enough money to give up there day jobs off ebook and print book sales, but those folks are the exceptions, not the rule. Seriously, being a writer is not about the money. If you think it is, go look for another career. The people who make the big bucks like J.K Rowling and Stephen King are far and few between.
However, knowing that still doesn’t diminish the thrill of getting that acceptance letter. I’ve received two such letters in the past month, and one was for a charity anthology, which means I’ve donated my work and will be making no money off it at all. At least not for me. Here’s hoping my work is good enough to make life better for someone else.
I’ll post updates on these story acceptances as I get more details from the publishers. And remember, buy my books!
Heh. The only story I’ve ever sold (so far?) netted me $20, and I had to pay the conversion costs to sterling… I doubt the pizza guy would have got a tip out of that!
I like a comment from a friend: “I’d be a full-time writer if I wasn’t addicted to monthly paychecks.”
Helen, I’m going to print this and post tack it to my bulletin board!
This cartoon and your accompanying comments are spot on. There’s nothing like an acceptance letter – and they’re best when there are $$s attached – regardless the amount.
Angela,
I’m glad you enjoyed the cartoon! I know I’ll never get rich doing what I’m doing, but I do hope to leave behind a legacy of published work when I die. I especially want my tombstone to say, “She wrote a lot of porn. Go read it!”
Don’t hesitate to pass that cartoon on if you like. I run it under a Creative Commons 3.0 license, so share the love!
Steveh11,
Actually, this last contract I received offered me $45, which is probably the highest amount I’ve been paid in quite a while. I suppose I would make more if I submitted more stories, but I’ve been so swamped with the podcast, I’ve sort of put that on hold. However, now that the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast is wrapping up before a 3-month break, I now have puh-lenty of stories to send out. So we’ll see how often I get published and how much money I make in the coming year 😉
Wait a minute! You mean I’m not going to get rich by writing? I specifically requested the standard “Rich and Famous” contract.
Congrats on the sale. Maybe I can sell my next story and have enough for a tip too.
Cliff
Uncle Monster!! I doubt I’ll get rich by anything I do, but at least I’ll be happy doing it. Keep writing. When you make a sale, you can take me out for pizza 😉