Giveaway Winner--And A Look at My Latest Royalty Statement

First, congrats to Cindy, the winner of my latest giveaway. She wins a signed copy of Writer For Hire, which I'll be mailing to her this week. Thanks to all who entered!

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know I'm big on talking money. I've posted before about going rates for freelance work; real POD sales figures; and even shared my royalty statements. And I conduct an annual freelance income survey. I believe that information is power for both freelancers and book authors. 

I recently received my royalty statement for the first six months of the year for Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success. (Typically traditional publishers send royalty statements twice a year, from two to six months after the end of the royalty reporting period.) The royalty statement tells you how many books you've sold during that time period and how much you've made in royalties, If you've made more than your advance (what's called "earning out"), you receive a check along with your statement.

I wasn't sure what to expect with sales for Writer for Hire. I knew that with Six-Figure Freelancing, I sold about 4,600 copies during the first royalty period--not bad at all. Because I had such an advance of $15,000, though, I have yet to earn out on Six-Figure. Maybe someday. But I did a lot of promotion to launch Writer for Hire, and continue to market it. That's part of my work as an author. 

So, how'd I do? My sales figures weren't as high as I would have liked, but they're not terrible, either. In the first six months of the year, I sold a total of 1,975 copies of Writer for Hire, including 92 e-books. I make about $0.83/print book and $2.37/e-book, so I've made $1776.43 in royalties. However, that's not enough to offset my advance for the book. If sales stay steady--or hopefully pick up--I estimate it will take another year or so to actually see a royalty check. 

Keep in mind that a "midlist" author may sell between 10,000 to 20,000 copies of a book over its lifetime, so nearly 2,000 sales isn't a bad start. What matters is what happens during the next few royalty statements. So stay tuned!