Real Talk for Writers

*A quick note before I dive in: Real Talk for Writers is shifting to a biweekly schedule going forward. If you want more support for your author career, be sure to check out The Author Burnout Cure Podcast, which will continue to post weekly.* 

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I've been part of several conversations with auth...

After playing around in the author portal last week for the Real Talk issue on royalty statements, I dug a little deeper to explore the impact of new releases on the sales of previous books. The findings were interesting, so I decided to share them with all of you.

Before I dive in, an important ca...

This week's issue of Real Talk for Writers came as a request from a few debut authors that I know. There is so rarely transparency when it comes to sales numbers (author Jason June being one of the rare exceptions -- the royalty posts on his newsletter inspired some of my formatting this week), whic...

Before I dive into today's Real Talk for Writers, just a quick note: I am not a financial advisor, accountant, or tax pro. Everything I'm sharing today is simply advice I wish I had followed earlier in my career. Please check with your own tax/financial pros to see what makes the best sense for your...

As an industry, publishing tends to be shrouded in mystery. Especially when it comes to numbers. 

It’s rare for authors to talk publicly about how much money they make or how many copies of their books they sell.

There’s lots of euphemisms: “Oh, it was a fairly small advance” or “the book did okay...