Scott Duffy's Book Writing Log

Self Love

I wonder if all new authors act like this???

With my new toy, I went into the local Chapters bookstore and found my first book. It was facing out like this when I found it, I swear...

MCSD Analyzing Requirements Study Guide, now on sale!

Rush over to Amazon.com and buy one.

Sales are doing well I see. Can't complain.

What Makes Me Happy

Whenever I enter a bookstore these days, I regularly check to see if my first JavaScript book is in stock.

For about a month, I have been largely disappointed. Most Chapters bookstores in my area were sold out of the book. I wasn't sure if this was good or bad. The book is obviously selling, which is good. But if it's not in bookstores, sales will slump quickly. Could it be that Chapters won't order any more?

Well, I went to two bookstores over the past two days, and both of them had MULTIPLE copies. (By multiple, I mean two of course.) One of the two stores was out of the book a few weeks ago. Yipee! Evidence they are reordering! I wonder how overall book sales are doing? I can't wait for the next statement.

Is it possible I've sold 10,000 copies? That would be amazing!

Scott

MCSD Study Guide Goes To Press

MCSD Analyzing Requirements Study Guide has been sent to the printer. Look for it in stores within a few weeks.

First Royalty Statement

Every three months, I expect to receive a letter (sent by my agent, but really from my publisher) called a "royalty statement". This statement tells me about book sales. How many were sold, broken down by region (domestic, foreign, Canada, deep discount). Just as importantly, these letters will contain a statement of how much I earned and possibly even a check.

I just received my first royalty statement ever, and no, it did not contain a check. Of course, I received a rather large advance for my JavaScript book, and it might take another statement or two to pay it back.

Of course, receiving the statement has got me thinking about my next book. What should the topic be? Something really interesting this time. The MCSD book was not as much fun to write as the JavaScript book was, I must say. Of course, the "fun" level is inversely proportional to the "work" level. The MCSD book was a lot more work...

Royalties and Advances

Each deal, of course, is a bit different. But in my four book deals, there has been some similarities as well.

The first thing you're likely to care about is the advance. The advance is the amount of money a publisher will pay you in advance of your book being written and/or published. The most important thing to know about an advance is that it is a loan against future royalties. So if author A received a $5,000 advance while author B received a $10,000 advance, that just means that author B will have to sell twice as many copies of his book in order to start making any more money.

The second thing to take note of is the royalty rate. I get 10% of net sales. Net sales, as best as I can determine, is the amount the publisher receives from the booksellers minus the amount of any returns. It is NOT the cover price. My book retails for $24.99 and sells for $17.49 at Amazon.com. From my latest statement, it appears the publisher gets $11.81 per copy from booksellers (wholesale price). I get $1.18 per copy (or 10%). Also, if your book suffers from a high number of returns (ie: books that did not sell at the bookstore and get sent back to the publisher for a refund), that reduces your royalties.

If your book does not sell enough copies to earn back the advance, you do not have to pay it back.

Web Questions Submitted

That's it. It's over. I. Am. Outta here.

The final piece of the puzzle has been put in place. I submitted the questions that will be placed on the book's web site early this morning. It wasn't difficult to write, just time consuming. 41 questions took about 20 hours to write all told. It's a time consuming process.

When I get word on the book's availability date, I'll let you know.

CD Questions Submitted

Today I submitted 41 multiple choice questions destined for the CD-ROM at the back of the book. I still have to write an identical number of questions for the book's Internet web site.

After taking a week to get started on the task, I basically sat down and wrote them in one afternoon. When you're on a roll, you're on a roll. Hopefully, I can do the same thing tomorrow with the web questions and be done with them.

I promised to have this book in by the end of March, and here we are almost at the end of May. To be fair, I did not know about the CD/Web questions when I signed the deal. But still, I was 6 weeks late on an 8 week project. I've said it before, but this is the last time I'm going to try and write a book in two months. It can't be done. OK, maybe it can be done by others, but I have yet to be able to do it.

One issue may be time. When you only have 1 hour or 2 hours a day to work on the book, if that, not much gets done. When you get a day like today, where I was able to work on the thing the whole day, 12 solid hours, you can get a lot done.

I've contacted my agent about arranging my next book. So far, I have not heard back. I'm thinking of writing about wireless technology. Or maybe another .NET book. Or both.

Scott