A money-losing proposition

The business of bookselling

I will lose money on this book, at least in the short term.

Years before I started my literary journey, I thought having a book deal meant you’d be on the road to fame and fortune.

It all seemed so glamourous. Book launch parties. Speaking engagements. Bestseller lists.

But that glitzy vision is only a reality for a select few, and that success is realized over many years.

I remember being surprised to read these words in Liz Gilbert’s book, Big Magic.

But for the first ten years of my creative journey, I did not make a single dime out of writing. And for the next ten years of my creative journey (which included the publication of three books) I always kept alternative day jobs — always made sure I had other streams of income to rely upon.

I did not quit all my other jobs until EAT PRAY LOVE became a crazy bestseller, you guys. And EAT PRAY LOVE was a freak of nature.

A freak of nature! Big Magic came out in 2015, so here’s a more recent example. I went through Martha Beck’s coach training. In an offhand remark during a Q + A, Martha mentioned that money generated from her instant New York Times Bestseller and Oprah’s Book Club pick , The Way of Integrity, wouldn’t be enough for her to fully live on.

Clearly, my youthful fantasies of making beaucoup cash as a writer weren’t grounded in reality.

Like I said at the top, I’ll actually lose money. Let’s talk about it.

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I’m a small potatoes author. I’ve got relatively small social media platforms and a decent email list for Inner Workout.

My publisher paid me a $20,000 advance for this book. I’m really grateful for the size of advance that I received at this stage in my career with a smaller platform. Advances are quite subjective. If you’re a nosy Nelly like me, you can see the wide range of advance payments in the #publishingpaidme spreadsheet.

And I should have led with this: an advance is essentially a pre-payment from the publisher. They gave me the money up front, and each book sold brings me closer towards “earning out.” So I won’t see another dollar from the publisher until the royalties I earn from selling books exceed the advance they paid me.

Publishers bet on authors. Many authors don’t earn out. But that math works well enough for the industry to soldier on. Math nerds, you’ll enjoy this article. Read the comments, too!

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Ok, so my advance was $20,000. My literary agency, which negotiated the advance and my contract, takes 15%. That’s the industry standard, and I’m happy to pay that price for peace of mind and an extra dose of support.

That leaves me with $17,000.

Remember when I said I was small potatoes? My publisher already gave me a stack of cash. They’re not going to blow a ton of money on me for a book launch because I haven’t shown that investing in me would give them an ROI—yet.

My publisher will give me a set amount of free books, a hefty discount on purchased books, and an in-house publicist who will pitch the book to relevant outlets.

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Before I take the math further, let me remind you of the three goals I set for launching this book:

1. Be an accessible resource for people in their self-care and inner work journeys

2. Build my thought leadership in self-care and personal development

3. Sell enough to get another book deal

Bonus: Be a (NYT) bestseller. A gal’s still gotta dream, right?!

For goals two and three, I need to be outchea selling books and talking about self-care.

So I brought in back up in the form of two publicists.

You may or may not know that I interned at a public relations firm back in the day. I’ve done all of my own pitching to date and achieved results I’m proud of. It’s just time and energy intensive during a time when both time and energy are sacred.

I’m working with a literary publicist, Megan Posco (hi, Megan!). I picked her because she felt like a kindred spirit. She’s scrappy. She cares about impact. She’s hardworking but not self-serious. She’s incredibly kind. Oh, and she has the most gorgeous website.

I’m also working with a podcast PR firm, Scout’s Agency. It’s atypical to work with a separate podcast publicist. However, I’ve been on several podcasts over the years, and I’ve always seen the benefits: newsletter subscribers, my own podcast downloads go up, and product sales. If I wanted to double down on this channel, working with a podcast agency founded by the co-host of a top podcast felt like the way to do it.

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All in, the publicist cost comes to $23,500. I’m already in the hole.

Then you sprinkle in the costs of hosting a launch party in Chicago. Sending books and packages. Travel expenses if I do hobble together events in any other cities.

This is a champagne problem. I’m grateful to run a business that’s allowed me to slowly save up for this book launch over the past few years so that it can afford to lose money.

And I’ve gotta an inkling that it’s all gonna pay off in the long run.

LMK what you thought of this week’s report by replying to this email or commenting in Substack.

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Trying something new at the end of these newsletters! I’ll share specific book launch asks as they come + when coaching and consulting spots are open for those of you who want support in your own process.

How you can help with the book launch

• Pre-order the book

• Let me know if you’d be willing to share the book with your community when the launch looks closer. This could be anything from a social media shout out to having me at an event. I’m gathering a list so that I can loop back with people at the top of next year!

• If you’re a corporate gworl, recommend me to speak at your organization. (Employee resource groups love me!) I can send more info your way.

How we can work together

• For the business owners, I’m opening my books for coaching and consulting client to kick off in January! Here are the deets.