Yesterday I offered a little of my own experience in self publishing–that is, P.O.D.–the costs and rewards (and/or lack thereof).

My first book-publishing experience was in writing children's books for hire.   These were books for which the publisher had selected the theme.  The first were a series of "About. . ." books. My first title was About News & How It travels.  I did two additional "About's":  This was in the 1960s.  This publishing house was eventually purchased by Childrens Press of Chicago and  two other women and I  wrote (still for hire) a dozen additional books that featured careers open to young people who did not necessarily want or could not, for financial reasons, to attend college.  We researched construction work, the health care and the publishing fields, to name only three of the dozen.  As I recall, we were paid about $1500 each for these books. 

(I'd like to see that much in a lump sum from my recently published adult, non-fiction books, one of which (Just Pencil Me In–Your Guide To Moving & Getting Settled After 60) is pictured (thanks to computer-savy writer  friend, Lin Ennis) at the side of this blog.  For my two adult, non-fiction titles, I have received an advance of $500 each from the publisher, an amount awarded in the following dimensions:  $250 when the proposal was approved and $250 when the final manuscript was approved.  Following that, I receive 6 1/2% royalty per copy sold by the publisher.  This outfit, a small independent publisher in California (www.quilldriverbooks.com) accepts onny non-fictions.  The editor is Steve Mettee.  If you have a great idea for a non-fiction book, query hime.  A great guy to work with.

Here is a current contrast:  This from the NYTimes article quoted in my last two blogs: "Michelle Long, an accountant who advises small businesses, published "Successful Quick-Books Consulting," a guide for others who want to help businesses use a software package made by Intuit through Create-Space a little mor than a year ago.  She said she had earned 45 to 55 percent of the cover price on each sale and had made $22,000 in royalties on the sale of mor than 2000 copies."

More on this tomorrow