Financial literacy post #03 part two: Common myths about making money as an author, continued
In which we learn why people owe me money and why I no longer have the will to track that money down.
Hello and Happy Wednesday.
Before we get into more myths about making money as an author, I want to share some cool things going on this month for writers.
The Away Club launches June 16th! The Away Club is an online community developed for creative people who want to think meaningfully about how they interact with the physical world in a wildly digital age. Under this same rubric, founder
has developed the “Away Club Challenge” to help people change their online habits to move more productively (and sanely) between their IRL and online selves. You can learn all about the first challenge of the summer and how to sign up for it via this video at Lindsey’s Substack Between Two Things.1Live “Debuting in Community” conversation with Courtney on June 3rd: In early 2025, a cohort of debut Simon & Schuster authors formed to help shepherd and cheer each other through publication, and on June 3rd, I’m hosting them for a moderated conversation about what publication is really like.
From finding out that you’re a mid-list title when a friend is a lead title to how much of the promotion process the author has to spearhead, we’ll be getting into the nitty and the gritty of publication ups and downs, but with a positive, community-focused bent. This event is free to attend, but you must register, which you can do here. The talk is from noon to 1:30pm EST on June 3rd and there will be video available for those who can’t make it live.
We’ll also be running a giveaway of all the authors’ novels to celebrate our discussion. Stay tuned for that in June!
The Incubator deadline is July 1st! Anna Vodicka and Colleen Kinder, co-founder of the literary magazine Off Assignment (which I adore and have published in), host a six-week program of intensive support and accountability for advanced writers looking to make radical headway on a book manuscript, and the next deadline for applications is right around the bend. You have until July 1st to apply (for free) to their September 3rd-October 11th 2025 Incubator program. All information about the intensive six-week session is here.
Now to the topic at hand. If you’re new here, I’ve been focusing on “financial literacy” for writers this past month. Here’s a round-up of what we’ve explored so far:
Post #1 covered how I made money as a writer up to the point that I got a book deal.
Post #2 covered how I made money (or did not make money) as an author from my first book deal on.
Post #3 covered common myths about making money as an author (part I of II). Make sure to read the comment section— there is a helpful conversation about how to use indie book stores to purchase author copies in a way that will benefit you.
Today, we’re continuing to examine the things I thought were true about how authors made money until I became an author, and discovered I had basically no idea about anything at all.
In no particular order, let’s continue debunking these money-making myths.
Common myths about making money as an author, continued from last week
Myth 4: Once you have earned out, you will receive royalties on that book title until kingdom come
For those of you not familiar with the way that book advances work, basically, when you sell a book, you are either selling an entire draft of a book (a full manuscript); a few chapters of a book that you’re entering into a contract to turn into a full book (this is commonly called “selling on a partial”); or you sell a book idea on a proposal, and are given however long to turn your idea into a book.
Regardless, you’ll be given a certain amount of money paid in 2-4 installments over give or take 2-3 years (depending on whether you meet deadlines), and when you sell enough books to “earn back your advance” you will receive royalty payments on every copy sold after that.
Certainly, many authors (me included!) understood this to mean that once I got the call, email, or balloon delivery notifying me that I’d earned out my advance, I’d stay on the golden brick road of royalty payments as long as the book stayed in print.
Well! There are no straight roads in publishing. There are only curves. I discovered one of these curves when I got a statement for a book I’d earned out the advance for 12 months earlier stating that I was “behind” my advance again. (That’s industry speak for “not having earned out.”) I called my agent, certain there was a fault in the accounting. There wasn’t. Here’s why.