November 25th: This morning while doing some online banking, I discovered Amazon.com had already made my next deposit for Kindle sales. Since there’s a 60 day waiting period, these sales are for the month of September totaling $83.13. That was a nice gift to receive right before Thanksgiving!
Total money invested on this project to date (after book sales only): $415.98
Total money invested on this project after all sales and services: $55.06
My October payment will arrive at the end of December and will put that bottom number into the positive. Also, I’ve been working on another book cover for a fellow Lulu’er this week. They will probably submit payment in a day or two which will also help. I had been including money from my book cover side job under the “all sales and services” figure because that money was a nice way to pay for postage and for review copies of my book, so while I haven’t been doing as many book covers as I was back in the summer, I’m going to continue to include that money as funds for this overall project.
If you don’t subscribe to The Writer, then you should. It’s one of the few magazines I subscribe to and find very helpful. The December issue has some excellent articles about writing full time, how to find time to write, and some practical tips on managing a day job and writing (like me). In the December Issue, there’s also a top ten “great writing books from 2008″ list if you are into books about writing. One article mentions an award winning poet who is a full time teacher.
My point is that while I would love to be a full time writer, it’s not in the forecast of life right now. So, while I work a full time 9-to-5 to support myself and have had other smaller projects providing income like the book cover business, I think it’s important to budget yourself for a project like this. Most of my up-front costs were put on a credit card and that’s why I devoted the money made from the book cover business solely to paying off my debt which accumulated from my own book project. So, that’s why I include that money here and show you earnings from book sales only and from “all other.” The diary has been a little quiet lately; I haven’t invested in more copies or in other means of promoting the book, but I’m still visibly out there on the web taking advantage of promoting myself however I can. So…in short, know your limits (or at least put some in place) and take advantage of the free stuff, and keep your fingers crossed that it all PAYS OFF in the end!
