November 28, 2005
Yesterday I mentioned that I was working on a new novel under a pseudonym, and that seemed to be the part that garnered interest from readers. As I was walking the dog this morning I thought, you commented on this, but you sort of danced around the real reason. And that made me think that it was time to talk about a dirty little secret that almost all writers of fiction and nonfiction aren't always honest about. It's money.

Okay? Yes, so far I'm quite pleased with the new publisher. They gave me a small advance. They seem to have distribution, marketing, etc. I may very well be with them--happily--for a very long time.

But if that book had been picked up by a major NY publisher, the advance would have bigger. Possibly just a little bigger. Probably a whole lot bigger. And yes, folks, I do give a damn about the money I make as a writer, and if you were honest with yourself, you probably do, too.

If my entire goal were to make a lot of money, writing--novels or nonfiction--would be a pretty stupid way to go about it. I can think of half a dozen careers right off the top of my head that I could pursue that make more money than writing--plumbers, electricians, accountants, teachers, medical technologists, union truck drivers. I can think of a half dozen businesses that would potentially be more lucrative than writing--restauranteur, UPS Store owner, lawncare... you get the idea.

Still, the novel I'm working on under a pseudonym has a commercial hook, is high concept, and I gave some thought to how to make it as commercial as possible when I sifted through story ideas, settling for the one I chose.

This is not always the way I work on fiction. A lot of times I just have an idea that interests me, and I go with it. This time, I sifted through ideas looking for the one that seemed most commercial, most likely to get a decent contract, that I could do well, that has a hook, a clearly defined audience, and that hopefully a publisher will take one look at it and say, "Yeah, we can make some money off this."

Will it work? Fuck if I know.

Does it make me crass and money-fixated? Hey, folks, as Stephen King said, "Some of you are calling me crass and money-fixated, and some of you are calling me bad names."

The fact is, I make a living as a writer. It's a decent living, roughly equivalent to what I was making working as a cytogenetics technologist at a major hospital. But there are no benefits, I have to take care of my retirement myself, and guess what? I have expenses. I have a mortgage, utility bills, a car payment... I like to take a decent vacation at least once a year, go out to eat, catch movies, and hope to help my kids with their college educations when we come to that.

Do I want to get rich? I don't even know what "rich" is anymore. Would I like to make more money than I am currently? Sure. I'll find a way to spend it. Or invest it. Or have a thicker cushion for rough times. Or stay at a nicer resort next time we can afford to go to Disney World, or just have some peace of mind that I have enough money in the bank to weather the next slow-paying client. Or to be in a position to say, "No thanks," when a client turns out to be a jerk.

I think most writers--especially in fiction--have some sort of dream of riches, the bestsellers list, etc. I'd be happy if that happened, but upper midlist sounds good, too. I'll try not to adjust my lifestyle to spend it all.

Fairly recently bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took some heat for worrying on her blog that her latest paperback hadn't hit the NY Times Bestseller List where she had hoped it would. People got all over her about it, "ooooh, poor Tessy, making money none of the rest of us will ever see, but whining about her income dropping off..."

I chose to view her as a businesswoman concerned about the current market and her sales position. A lot rides on where she hit that list. She was expressing a concern a lot of writers have--and a lot of writers, if they ever were to hit her sales level, would have the same worries.

Let's be clear. If it were all about money, I wouldn't be doing this at all. I wouldn't write fiction at all, and I probably wouldn't be writing nonfiction either. If it were only money, I could get an MBA or a law degree and go work for someone else for money. Or buy a pizza franchise or whatever.

I've often thought that the biggest difference between aspiring novelists and people who buy lottery tickets, is that lottery ticket buyers don't really expect to win. But all novelists seem to think they're going to make a fortune, hit the bestsellers list, etc.

All? Well, most. I gave a talk lately and, as usual at Library talks, 3/4 of the audience was aspiring writers, and in this case, 2 of them had book contracts. One of them commented, "I'm just thrilled to see it in print. I'm not worried about sales or money."

Uh-huh. I didn't believe her, but I'm willing to say: That's nice. But, if you don't get worried about sales, which has a clear-cut mathematical connection to money, and you don't sell-through, it may be the only book you sell or get published.

If ever the law of supply and demand applied, it applies to writing. There are tons of decent manuscripts out there with a relatively finite number of slots for them to be published. If a publisher buys your manuscript, publishes it and it disappoints, they will probably give you another chance ... maybe. But if it continues to disappoint, well, they're probably receiving about 200 manuscripts a week and at least one of them could fill your slot.]

So that's my dirty little secret.

Best,
Mark Terry