How Much do Authors Earn?

My sister recently asked me why I bother writing pocket novels when they pay so little. It’s true. You get £300 for 38,000 words or £350 for nearly £50,000. I’d earn so much more if I sold that many words as short stories.

But if you play your cards right, you can also sell your pocket novel to Ulverscroft for another £300, you can register for secondary use payments with the ALCS, and self-publish as well, all for the same novella. Me, I’m rubbish at marketing. Can’t sell raffle tickets let alone books, so I do’t make much money at self-publishing. But some traditionally published authors I know are struggling to make money. Most have other jobs to pay the mortgage.

Other reasons to consider writing pocket novels include:

1. Relatively little competition
2. No rounds and rounds of editing if your book is accepted
3. Swift payment in advance
4. Clear guidelines available.

I find pocket novels excellent practice for writing longer stories for a well-defined market. And although there is relatively little competition compared with finding a publisher or agent, that doesn’t mean they’re ‘easy’ to write. But a few simple tips will help you succeed. Ignore these at your peril!

Read the guidelines (so many people don’t!) Click here for My Weekly guidelines, and here for The People’s Friend guidelines.

Read recent copies of pocket novels to get a feel for the sorts of stories the publisher wants – and what they don’t want. Find your nearest stockist using this store finder website. They’ll be displayed in store with the magazines. You can order them directly or take out a subscription from the DC Thomson shop.

After that, write the best book you can. It’s easy to fall into the trap of ‘that’ll do’ (like I did), thinking you’ve seen something similar written by someone else. Maybe, but you still need to make sure you have well-developed character arcs, a good plot, a good writing technique and don’t take short cuts. Some of these novels appear deceptively simple, but when you sit down and analyse them, they’re tightly plotted with several separate areas of potential conflict gradually ratcheting up and increasing the stakes.

Meanwhile I’ve not spent much time writing recently as I’ve been getting my latest novel ready for publishing.

Dear William started life as a pocket novel but the unabridged version is now available on Amazon in ebook and paperback. It’s a historical romance set in the 1790s in West Yorkshire just as the industrial revolution is gathering pace, and features a talented apothecary struggling to survive when her husband sells up and makes off with the proceeds.

But I really want to get back to writing. That’s what we writers like best.

And I’ve also so many books to read as well, starting with a new author to me, Diane Ascroft, a Canadian living in Ireland who writes cozy mysteries set in Canada. And Out of Options is currently available free on Amazon, so what’s not to like?

But if you prefer short stories, why not sign up for Christopher Fielden’s newsletter? I find him a great source of information and this month, his newsletter lists 17 short story competitions…

Sale! The Alsace, and Murder in the Rhubarb Triangle

I was on a walking holiday in the Alsace last month when I received an email that was long overdue. I sold a story.

The town wall walk at Bergheim, my favourite Alsatian village

It’s been literally months since I sold anything. So long, in fact, that I’m beginning to think all my emails to My Weekly are going into the spam folder. But a story about a Victorian lady gardener that I sent into Alan at The People’s Friend in January obviously hit the sweet spot. I’d had high hopes for that story, which was triggered by an article I read about a new book based on correspondance between ladies who’d taken the new RHS horticulture course in the 1890s but suffered discrimination afterwards: the top student should have won a training position at a prestigious London garden, but they didn’t take women… What, I wondered, did she do next? Being a determined sort, she obviously battled until she got herself another position.

When I’d originally submitted it, Alan said the story sounded right up their street – as I had hoped – so the longer time went on, the more disappointed I slowly became.

However, in his acceptance email, Alan mentioned the word count being unpopular, meaning, I presume, that few authors send stories of that length (3,500 words). Why would you when they print mostly stories of 2,000 and 3,000 words?

I suspect it worked to my advantage here: they must have wanted a 3,500 word story and had few to choose from. Obviously, it’s a good story, too, else they wouldn’t have bought it. But still… I think the word count worked in my favour so it’s definitely worth not writing off the less popular story lengths, especially longer ones. I suspect a lot of authors send in stories of 1200 words because it’s less work for the money. But if you have to write two, three, four of these to get one sale because it’s a popular length and there’s more competition, is it worth it, really?

Either way, it was a welcome email and hopefully brings to an end this dry spell that all authors go through from time to time. However, to continue selling, I have to continue subbing, which in turn means I must continue writing. Unfortunately I haven’t had much of an urge to do that since I returned home, possibly because I enjoyed not sitting at my computer all day long, and many of my chronic aches and pains went away. You don’t realise how bad for your back/neck/arms sitting and typing for hours on end is.

Also I have a lot of editing and managerial tasks to do. On Saturday 22nd June I will take part in Murder in the Rhubarb Triangle at Wakefield library. This is a day of author panels, book sales and expert talks (can’t wait to meet Steve Keogh, an ex-met officer who writes excellent books about what the police actually do). I’m taking part in the cosy crime panel at 10 am, which means an early start for me. I’m quietly terrified as it will be my first ever panel, but the early start will at least mean that I’m not worrying about it all day.

However, I also need to organise books for sale, and merchandise, too. Which, I guess, means less time writing! It promises to be a great day though, so if you’re anywhere near Wakefield, why not come along? It’s great to put faces to names and I’d love to see you. Attendance is free but you are advised to book as it could get busy. Scan the QR code for details.

Meanwhile my latest book set in Yorkshire has just come back from the editor, so it’s back to the grindstone!