I'm not complaining. I've given away stories for free. In fact, right this moment you can read Things Could Be Worse over at Demolition and know that I got paid exactly what it will cost you to read it.And that's OK.
And I certainly don't have a beef with Michael Bracken, editor of this Fedora anthology, the man who just sent me my second royalty check for my story, Freddie Swings In. So far, I've raked in ninety cents for a story that came this close to selling to Playboy for a grand.
And that's OK.
Because Freddie Swings In is the story that was nominated for a Derringer along with stories by Ray Banks, Dave White and Duane Swierczynski. And those names introduced me to this blogging community, and that's worth more than ninety cents.
OK, maybe not enough to cover that Starbucks java frappuccino, but still, it's something.
And there are other names in this anthology you might recognize. Writers like Graham Powell, Tom Sweeney and Lee Goldberg. What ever happened to those guys?
So, you might wonder, if we don't do this for the money, why do we do it? Why put ourselves through years of rejection for a job that comes with little money, no health benefits, no job security, and no pension plan? Why do this?
And if you have to ask, perhaps this isn't your line of work.
2 comments:
I can't speak for those other guys, but I do it for fun. Even when it's not fun.
I haven't been writing much besides Visual Basic code lately. I'm hoping that will change this year, but don't hold your breath.
Try life as the editor who spends more money mailing royalty checks than he spends in royalties...
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