Rob Blog

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Heh, I like the story about your daughter going to the doctor.

I asked what he was going to look at, and she said
"My eyes."
"What else?"
"My toes"
"What else?"
"My shoes."
"What else?"
"Mommy."
"He'd better not."

Heh, that's rather quite amusing.

I like that one of our distinguished authors can update his website every so ofterner. But don't worry EUOL, I'll still love you too.

[EUOL]

Hey, I got one last week AND one this week.  I'm getting better.

[House of Mustard]

I'd originally planned on updating twice a week.  That was before I realized I'm lazy.

[EUOL]

Seriously, though, Rob--you've gotta use that dialogue somewhere.  It's a riot.

Why is it you're not coming to Worldcon with us?  Do you ever intend to get back into sf/f?  

(I know.  Blah, blah.  You're poor.  Come on, it's a tax write-off.  That makes it free, right?)

[House of Mustard]

Yeah, here's the problem: I finally get paid this month (the first money I'll ever see from writing) and it all has to go into savings so I can go back to school.

Actually, I'd love to get back into fantasy.  The problem I'm running into right now is that I'm so busy writing other stuff (two more books will be out Spring 05) that I can't even think straight, let alone branch out.

[EUOL]

Wait a sec.  TWO more books out in Spring?  They're going to do two at once?

I suppose it's good they're keeping you busy.  But, I still wonder if you can ever get where you need to be in this market.  How much is a print run for a Covenant heavy-hitter?  

[House of Mustard]

There are 13 LDS novels that have sold over 500,000 copies.  I can't remember all 13, but I think they're a combination of Work and the Glory, Children of the Promise, and Tennis Shoes among the Nephites.

In general, however, a good strong book by a well-established author will sell about 30-40,000 copies.  Most novels sell somewhere between 5-10,000 (which is where On Second Thought is right now--about 6500).

So really, volume is the only way to make a living.  The two I have this spring are 1) the first novel in the New Order series, currently titled AWAKE, and 2) a non-fiction humor book for Father's Day.  Covenant asked me to work on this, since there is very little available for Father's Day (compared to Mother's Day) and I've been going nuts to get it done.  We only started talking about it last month, and they'd like it finished by the end of November (granted, it's short--about 20,000 words).  It's going to be a very busy autumn.

[EUOL]

Hum.  30-40k is a nice print run, but you don't get a paperback run, and your 'hardback' is priced significantly lower than its national equivalent.  Also, you probably don't sell many foreign rights.

Yeah.  I'd keep doing a book a year for Covenant to establish yourself, but you really need to try and break into the national market.  Try a quick little semi-humorous fantasy or SF--like SECOND THOUGHT, but with either more humor or a stronger plot.  (Not that SECOND THOUGHT was bad--I'm just not sure that balance would fly in another genre.)  This father’s day thing sounds like quick money, but if it keeps you from working on other projects, it might not be worth the pay.

(Of course, if you’re getting standard royalties off it, and it’s going to be priced like a book three times its length, you might come out really well of this one.  LDS people like their little holiday books.)

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

there's something to be said for quick money, actually. like when you can make rent or have no idea where the groceries are going to come from. You get to choose between quick money and working on something that *may* pay off several years down the road.

[House of Mustard]

Yeah -- I don't have the luxury to be able to turn down quick money in favor of something else.  Besides, like I said, the deadline is extremely soon, so it won't be cutting too much into my time.

The nice thing about this venture is that it'll probably be hard cover -- something Covenant doesn't like to do with their novels.

[EUOL]

That IS nifty.  What's your royalty structure like on that thing?

[House of Mustard]

10-15%.  (Instead of 6.5-10%).  Also, non-fiction sells better at Deseret Book than fiction, so that's a plus.

[EUOL]

Nice!

Well, I can certainly see why you took the project.