Thread by joseph osmundson (all pronouns)
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- Mar 4, 2023
- #Economics #Writing
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*some news* (at the risk of getting in trouble for sharing writerly INSIDER BASEBALL):
VIROLOGY earned out its advance three months after publication, by September, 2022.
www.virologybook.com
VIROLOGY earned out its advance three months after publication, by September, 2022.
www.virologybook.com
Why am I sharing this? It's not to brag (although I worked damn hard), but because books that combine methodologies like MEMOIR and SCIENCE WRITING and QUEER THEORY often never get published because mainstream publishing doesn't imagine an audience.
Well: There is one.
Well: There is one.
That @IBJIYONGI's book did well made mine possible.
That @KieseLaymon showed by example that you could prove that there *IS* an audience for your work made mine possible.
I want my book to make OTHERS possible, for myself of course but also for many, many others.
That @KieseLaymon showed by example that you could prove that there *IS* an audience for your work made mine possible.
I want my book to make OTHERS possible, for myself of course but also for many, many others.
Here's the insider baseball:
My advance was $15,000 before taxes and my agent fee. An advance that is on the lowest of the low end for a mainstream publisher.
An advance that absolutely did not pay a living wage for the YEARS of work I've done on the writing.
My advance was $15,000 before taxes and my agent fee. An advance that is on the lowest of the low end for a mainstream publisher.
An advance that absolutely did not pay a living wage for the YEARS of work I've done on the writing.
The book came out as a trade paperback.
The good news there: It's $16, which is affordable for so many more people than a hardcover.
BUT: It's less money earned per book.
AND, guess what: I get LESS OF A CUT of that lower price, so earning out wasn't a given, this soon.
The good news there: It's $16, which is affordable for so many more people than a hardcover.
BUT: It's less money earned per book.
AND, guess what: I get LESS OF A CUT of that lower price, so earning out wasn't a given, this soon.
My goal was to earn out in six months, and in large part because of the amazing support of a massive community, WE did that in THREE.
I'm EXHAUSTED. And proud. And ready for what comes next. And hopeful to have a more living-wage-like advance for the next projects.
I'm EXHAUSTED. And proud. And ready for what comes next. And hopeful to have a more living-wage-like advance for the next projects.
The REAL good news: EVERY SINGLE BOOK YOU BUY NOW GIVES ME A SMALL LITTLE BIT OF CHANGE IN MY POCKET.
So please continue to buy and share, it really REALLY matters for me and so many other writers who will use its success to lift their own projects.
www.virologybook.com
So please continue to buy and share, it really REALLY matters for me and so many other writers who will use its success to lift their own projects.
www.virologybook.com
Queer writers, experimental writers, deserve so much more money and PR support. Women and writers of color, trans writers, everyone who's been held at the margins (of the margins) deserve so much more.
Being honest about this process is one small step.
Being honest about this process is one small step.
And I was and am fucking lucky to have found a home at Norton with @sitting_quietly who is the best editor a faggot could ask for, and without whom this book would not even exist.
