royalties and cut!

[erastes]

Royalties fluctuate so bloody much – I’m assuming this is because of all the different booksellers that publishers sell to, and the different rates each one offers or something, but I can’t but help being very confused.  For example – for one bookseller I earn $1.11 royalty per book sold, which is nice, then I see that I’ve sold 95 copies to another seller – get excited because that should be $100 – and then find I get a TOTAL of $25.  This seems bloody bizarre. And WRONG.

One of my favourite blogs, Rachelle Gardener, has a blog post this morning about effective ways to cut word count – some of the advice is:

Here’s a checklist of things to consider cutting:
→ Adverbs, especially those with “ly” endings. Ask yourself if they’re necessary.
→ Adjectives. Often people use two or three when one or none is better.
→ Gerunds. Words that end in “ing.”
→ Passive voice: Over-use of words like “was,” "were" and "that" indicate your writing may be too passive. Reconstruct in active voice.
→ Passages that are overly descriptive.
→ Passages that describe characters' thoughts and feelings in too much detail (i.e. long sections of narrative or interior monologue).
→ Passages that tell the reader what they already know.
→ Unnecessary backstory.

Oops. That makes Mere Mortals about 200 words long. Flash fiction anyone?

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Comments

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

just found it funny after my rather wordy Victorian backstory adverby descriptive novel is near the end!

Understood! I thought some of the advice needed to be taken with a grain of salt for writing Romance because isn't lush description a big part of the genre?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Very likely, yes - she deals with Christian books in the main - although I love her blog because she gives out excellent general advice, and doesn't mind me commenting!