Ahhhhh, the high-powered, high-paying career of the published author! Another day, another royalty check dropped off by the postman. And – if you believe that, you’ll want to steer clear of that professional fact-checker job.
It’s true that a lot of people bring home a regular paycheck through their writing, but whether that check covers all the bills or not depends on the type of typing being done every day. I’ve tapped at the keys most of my life, which is ironic.
Taking the class at MHS, home of the Buffaloes, I managed a pretty decent typing speed (until subtracting for the typos…). At the time, I thought it was a pretty useless enterprise since I had no plans to incorporate typing into my career plans. That same muddled high school thinking went into my assessment of algebra. What in the world would ever require THAT stuff?
Oh.
Computer programming. It turns out that those formula and variable writing skills from high school came in pretty handy when I started doing some contract programming. I thought it was fun, getting that computer to do things, so I took it up as a sort of hobby. (Classic definition of a nerd, I believe.)
In the long run, the algebra class paid off in larger paychecks than the typing class, although without that high school learnin’ I might have been the first ever “hunt and peck” keyboard operator. As a hobby, the programming certainly paid better than the creative writing.
Witness – the aforementioned royalty check, which may be small enough in the image that you can’t see the little number. You can click on the picture to enlarge it but it won’t make the dollar amount any bigger. In the spirit of full disclosure (and so as to not unfairly discourage a budding author from the lure of a career), this particular check only covered eBook sales from a single title.
Obviously, I’m not setting the Nook and Kindle world ablaze with my published works.
Still, it reminds me of that first-ever payment I received for something I had written. It was a pretty good feeling. (Ah heck. It was a GREAT feeling, even if the check barely covered a nice steak dinner.)
There are some authors that have had enough books published that they are likely making a living on piles of these little checks. And I think that would be just fine too. I’m content knowing that those years of typing out radio copy, news stories, press releases, and advertising scripts brought in enough to pay the rent.
These days, writing pays the bills – but it is the writing of others in hardback and paperback. Oh, and the writing out of the guest checks when the lunches have all been served. No typing involved there.
Someone asked me if I was working on a new book. Hmmmm. Not regularly. And if I ever get around to finishing the ones on the hard-drive it will be for just for the fun of putting a copy on the bookshelf.
‘Cause it won’t be for the big royalty check…
We’re writing up some lunchtime specials every day, so –
Come visit!
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!
