Earning Money From Re-Cycled Short Stories

The other day I cashed yet another check from McGraw-Hill Ryerson for a short story.

The check was for $29.24 - which doesn't seem like a big thing.

However, let's look at the source, and the history for where this payment came from.

A snapshot look at how "Almost" appears in theiLit.ca format

The History of my short story "Almost"

• 1988 - 1989 - Some time between high school and university I was reading Stephen King's Dance Macabre and was fascinated by his mentioning of the classic "tales of the hook" -- it inspired me to write a short story called "Almost" involving many of those elements
• 1989 - 1996 - I submitted "Almost" to three short fiction horror markets. Rejections from all of them.
• 1996 to 2003 - "Almost" remains "in the drawer" as one of those stories I had written but didn't have a home for
•  2004 - I decide to include "Almost" in my self-published collection One Hand Screaming in the "Curt Cries in the Night" section featuring short-shorts (stories approx 1000 words and under) and poetry.
• 2010 - I record a free audio version of "Almost" for Episode 14 of my podcast "Prelude to a Scream"
• 2012 - I reprint "Almost" in the digital chapbook Bumps in the Night. This collection was described as "a collection of four short stories perfect for either sharing around a campfire or reading while on a vacation or sleepover."
• Bumps in the Night was, for the longest time, my most successfully selling digital book
• Dec 18, 2014 - A Permissions Editor from McGraw-Hill contacts me by email requesting the use of "Almost" in the www.ilit.ca digital collection provided a few small editorial changes are made to make the story more palatable for an education audience. I agree.
• Jan 5, 2015 - Paperwork/contract is signed for re-print publication of "Almost" 
• Feb 25, 2015 - Receive editorial notes on revisions to story as well as initial layout proofs.
• Mar 9, 2015 - Receive request to modify a few additional words based on sensitivity issues with the Newfoundland and Labrador ministry of education. Accepted changes.
• Mar 9, 2015 - Receive flat fee payment for "Almost" - $350
• Oct 20, 2015 - Published a free version of "Almost" with an ambient soundtrack on BookTrack
• Oct, 2015 - "Almost" appears in the free Wattpad version of One Hand Screaming. 

Three of the collections that "Almost" has appeared in

Revenues Earned from McGraw-Hill

$350.00 (Flat Fee - "Advance" for story being made available in digital catalog)
$75.00 (Royalty payment for printing of story in custom printed secondary school books)
$88.65 (Royalty payment for printing of story in custom printed secondary school books)
$29.24 (Royalty payment for printing of story in custom printed secondary school books)

Total rec'd so far: $542.89

The story "Almost" is approximately 870 words long. The initial flat fee payment of $350 means that payment for this story was approx $0.40/word. Standard professional rates for fiction run at about $0.05 to $0.06. I have been paid $0.25 when selling non-fiction to magazine markets. So getting $0.40 per word for a short story is quite a spectacular "win" for me.

Not to mention, of course, the fact that I continue to receive royalties each time the story is added to a new teacher's custom-printed collection for a class. Heck, those royalties alone currently mean the story has earned an additional $0.22/word.

In addition, with the recently received check and royalty statement, I can see that the payment is for the reproduction of about 225 copies of the book in which the story appears. Based on those numbers, I can safely assume that more than 1000 students have either read, or had access to read this story in the past couple of years.

Yes, I know that most high school students who encounter a story aren't going to remember it or the author. Even this book nerd balked at some of the texts high school teachers forced me to read. But I also remember, quite fondly, those particular short stories I read in high school that have stuck with me all these years later. So there is always a slim chance that, among the students encountering this story, that some might be intrigued enough to read some of my other work.

The total money received for this story doesn't include the funds received from having "Almost" published in One Hand Screaming nor having included in Bumps in the Night, nor its availability in the BundleRabbit's The Crimes, Capers and Rule-Breakers Bundle.

But, just to do some minimal math on that, Bumps in the Night sells for $2.99 of which I keep 70% which comes to about $2.09; since the collection has four stories in it, it means that every time that collection has sold ths share for "Almost" is about $0.52), and I can safely say that I have sold more than 1000 copies of Bumps in the Night.

Bumps in the Night revenues earned since 2012:  Approx $2,090. The "cut" for Almost = $522.50

So, even without adding in the cut from One Hand Screaming (the revenues on this go back to 2004 - I haven't always been good at tracking the income on print and ebook for this one) or the other places "Almost" has been included, such as the Crimes, Capers and Rule-Breakers Bundle, I can safely say that this story has earned me more than $1000.00 in revenue. That comes to about $1.15/word so far. And the earnings continue to tick along.

Not bad for a short story that I initially hadn't sold to a short fiction market (and for which a professional short story sale would have been about $43.50)

Interesting end note. I still have no idea how the "right person" at McGraw came to discover my short story "Almost" and thus want to acquire rights to it for the high school literary catalog, but I have to believe that it might have something to do with the story being so broadly available and accessible.

Various Links to Almost:

• Listen to "Almost" in my old Prelude to a Scream Podcast Episode 14.  (Free)
• Read "Almost" on BookTrack (Soundtracks for Books) complete with an atmospheric sound-track (Free)
• Read "Almost" on Wattpad. (Free)
• Buy One Hand Screaming (includes "Almost" and 15 other short stories and a handful of poems) at your favorite online eRetailer (available in ebook and print)
• Buy Bumps in the Night (includes "Almost" and 3 other short tales perfect for "around the campfire" reading) at your favourite ebook retailer (ebook format only)
• Buy The Crimes, Capers & Rule-Breakers Bundle (includes "Almost" and 19 other stories from great authors) from BundleRabbit or your favorite online eRetailer

This Author's Earnings

I have been a writer since I was about thirteen years old and spent the summer hammering out a fantasy adventure novel on my Mom's old Underwood typewriter. And I started submitting stories for publication at the age of seventeen.

My first fiction sale happened a few years later, in 1992, for which I received five US dollars and a contributor's copy of the small press magazine the story appeared in.

Since 1992, I have either made money or the "payment in copy" equivalent of actual payment that I, as a young and desperate writer seeking to build a "name" was willing to accept in the very early days. Of course, as time went on, the pay I was willing to write for moved upwards towards what is considered "professional rates."

Along the way I have always had a day job in order to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. This came from the oft-given parental advice I received when I said "I'm going to be a writer." My folks reminded me of the importance of having a good day job so that I wouldn't go hungry while pursuing my dreams. So I sought a "day job" that would keep me as happy as writing makes me. Hence, my ongoing role as "bookseller."

In terms of "day jobs" I've been extremely lucky - always working within my field.  And, as the Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations at Kobo via Kobo Writing Life (a role I've had since October 2011), it continues to be a rewarding and fulfilling career.

So while I don't yet make enough money from writing to support being a writer full-time I must pause to admit that, even if I did earn enough from writing, I'm not sure I COULD leave the fulfilling and satisfying career and role I play.

But with respect to looking only at that "writerly earning" I just finished putting together the numbers for my writing earnings and expenses for 2015.

And, even though my "day-job" involves supporting thousands of authors who are able to earn enough money from self-publishing to be full-time writers (something I'm extremely pleased to be assisting them with), I don't yet fall into that particular bucket myself. In fact, though I'm a huge advocate for self-publishing as a viable option for writers, I personally earn more than half of my writing income from "traditional publishing."

Here's the breakdown of my writing income sources for 2015:

Income from Traditional Publishing:  52.75%
Income from Self-Publishing: 36.10%
Income from *Mixed Sources:  11.18%

* Mixed Sources refers to income that doesn't come directly from publishers or from direct self-publishing royalty sources. It includes other writer-related income from things such as Public Lending Rights (mixed titles), direct sales of print books, speaking and writer appearance honorariums, etc.

I should add a few caveats to this pie-chart, of course:

First, my numbers show that in the previous year almost 60% of my income came from self-publishing, while only about 35% came from traditional publishing. So it's interesting to see how, in a single year, things can change. This, to me, highlights the importance of being OPEN to all opportunities available as a writer. You never know WHERE the income might come from in the next 12 month period.

Second, if I were to break the income down and only look at eBook sales, self-publishing still leads with almost 90% of my income. The Traditional publishing game, for me, is all about PRINT books. Fortunately, my non-fiction books continue to do well in traditional print venues. However, I barely earn anything from the digital sales of my traditionally published books.

Third, if I were to look only at non-fiction sales, traditional publishing accounts for about 95% of my income. When it comes to fiction, the exact opposite is true. About 90% of my income from fiction comes from self-publishing.

All this is to say that there are pros and cons to each side and I benefit from being open to both.

A few take-aways for this particular writer:

1) Traditional publishing continues to be a good experience for me, particularly with respect to non-fiction titles that are distributed to print retail markets. I'll likely work on at least one book per year for that market.

2) I will continue to self-publish in both digital print formats (using POD - print-on-demand) for projects that earn me decent income but are not likely to appeal to a traditional publisher. Niche market material, etc.

3) Being open to new opportunities and new revenue sources remains a focus for this writer -- I have begun the process of getting books converted into audio, and will continue to be open to new opportunities as they present themselves.