Skip to main content

Contract stuff

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Thursday book giveaway is
The Cubicle Next Door
by
Siri Mitchell
.



My Monday book giveaway is
Calm, Cool and Adjusted
by
Kristin Billerbeck




You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the The Cubicle Next Door and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page!
Click here to join Camys_Loft
Click to join Camys_Loft


Myths of the Fatherless: My online friend Kathy Holmes just published her book. Here’s a blurb:

Myths of the Fatherless
One Daughter's Discovery
Every little girl loves her daddy. But what happens when that daddy is missing? Or another man steps into his place? Society has accepted many myths about what that means to a child.

MYTHS OF THE FATHERLESS attempts to dispel those myths by sharing the author's story of her search for her father and eventual reunion with him. Throughout her journey, she discovered she was not alone, and despite her denial, fathers are very important to a woman. And whatever the reason the father is missing, not knowing him affects a woman's relationships with men and her entire life.

But fatherless daughters are not without hope. There is a Heavenly Father, who is called the "father to the fatherless."

Find out more about Kathy’s book at http://thefatherless.blogspot.com.

FYI for writers: I just got my official notice that my publisher has accepted my revised version of my manuscript, book one in my series. I had worked with my editor and she turned it in on November 1st, I think.

The reason I’m excited about the letter is because now I get paid! I don’t know how much writers will be interested in this, but I thought I’d explain.

When I got my contract, it spelled out my payment schedule. The contract was for 3 books (they even gave me my ISBN numbers, if you can believe that).

For each book, the contract said that I get about 1/2 of my advance upon signing the contract, about 1/4 when I turn in the Marketing Info Sheet for the manuscript, and then the remaining 1/4 when I turn in the revised manuscript and it’s accepted.

(Not all publishing houses are like this, just so you know. Some of them don’t give the money in three parts, some give the remaining 1/2 of the advance upon receipt of the rough manuscript. Others wait until the manuscript is revised and accepted. Some wait until actual publication.)

Since the contract was for 3 books, upon signing the contract, I got 1/2 of the advance for each of the three books. It was a nice chunk of money right there, and for two books I hadn’t even written yet.

I had already turned in my Marketing Info Sheet for book 1 in May, so I also got 1/4 of the advance for that book.

In September, I turned in the Marketing Info Sheet for book 2, and got 1/4 of the advance for that book.

I turned in the manuscript for book 1 earlier this year, but it wasn’t through substantive edits and revisions until my editor turned it in November 1st. After she turned it in, it was accepted. I get the remaining 1/4 of my advance for book 1 sometime next month.

I turn in the rough manuscript for book 2 on January 1st, 2007. It will go through substantive edits and revisions, and once that’s turned in and accepted, only then will I get the remaining 1/4 of the advance for book 2.

I will not get royalties until I sell enough copies of the book to “pay back” my advance.

And, of course, I still have to pay taxes on all this.

Comments

Sheryl said…
Thanks Camy :-) The information on your contract and how your advances are handled is great "behind the scenes" info, and very helpful to know.

I can't wait to read your first book!
Anonymous said…
I can't wait until your book comes out, Camy!

Put me in the drawing for Siri's book. Thanks
Ronie Kendig said…
You know, chickadee, you are just the kewlest. :-D First--too kewl your manuscript revisions were accepted. GREAT JOB!!! Second, the One Thousand Gifts is so kewl. Thanks for mentioning me in there. :-D And lastly, how can I not love you for letting Kristin guest blog. I'm totally with ya, KB, on that not getting it thing. :-D
Anonymous said…
Good info, LAC. And you don't have to pay taxes if you spend more on your writing than you make! So go to lots of conferences!
Unknown said…
I want to be where you are! I want to be where you !
PatriciaW said…
I'm with Chickey. Guess I'd better get writing!
Anonymous said…
Aww, do you HAVE to pay taxes? JK!! I love the insider info, keep it coming :-)
Anonymous said…
Congrats, Camy, on the advance!! May your royalties begin soon. :)

Thanks, too, for the mention of my book. It's so cool to know this book is touching lives around the world - from the US to Australia to the UK and on to South Africa. It'll be so awe-inspiring to see what the Lord does with it all. I am so thankful for being given this opportunity.
Anonymous said…
Congrats on this next big step. It's always rewarding to get paid...especially after all the hours behind the computer. SO happy for you...how will you spend your fortune? ;-)

Popular Posts

Window shopping

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.14.2005 Knee update: I went to the doctor today for a checkup, and saw his assistant. I’ve been concerned because there’s still inflammation in my knee joint, and it’s been almost 4 months since the surgery. She said she’d talk to the doctor about it tomorrow and call me. Sometimes he suggests laying off the PT to see if that causes the inflammation to go away, but I don’t know if that will work because lately I’ve been pretty active outside of PT. At PT today, the therapist did ultrasound and some sort of electrical current on the joint. Hopefully that will make the inflammation start to go down. I’ll know by tomorrow, probably. Writing: Mt. Hermon conference starts this Friday! On Thursday night, I’ll be at the Santana Row Borders bookstore to help out (and hopefully learn a bit, too) at a booksigning for several of the ACFW authors who are attending Mt. Hermon . That should be lots of fun. I had a good brainstorming time at ...

New book idea a la Captain Caffeine

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.14.2009 So my husband, Captain Caffeine, had lunch with a few friends a few days ago. And they asked about my writing, and if I’d been on Oprah yet. (Yeah, right) They then discussed NYT bestselling books, and why can’t Camy write a NYT bestseller. (Sure, let me just open a vein over a blank page and it’ll come right out.) So Captain Caffeine came home with ideas for my new NYT bestselling novel. First it starts with vampires, because Twilight is so hot. But not just any vampires. This one’s an Amish vampire. And he’s not just an Amish vampire, he’s a cop in disguise, infiltrating the Amish community to protect a witness. (Hmm, that storyline sounds familiar ...) But wait! There’s more! To add more conflict and stick with my brand of Asian fiction, we introduce the Tibetan monk! Who joins the Amish community to get away from the pressures of monkhood. But in reality, he’s protecting the Chinese princess on the run, trying to escape from her father’s Hong...

Japanese language learning process in more detail

I blogged a few weeks ago that I’ve jumped back into my Japanese language learning after being lazy and letting it slide. I’ve been keeping my Japanese language study habit for about a month now, and I wanted to blog about my process in more detail. One thing I had noticed about my Japanese is that I tended not to do it if I left it to do at the end of the day. I realized that it was just like my exercise—if I didn’t do it first thing in the morning, it never got done. So I started doing my Japanese right after my exercise in the morning. I treated it like one of my “frogs,” as I read about in the book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time . The book is based off of a Mark Twain quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” It suggests doing your “frogs”—your important things that you’re likely to procrastinate doing—first thing in the morning in order to get it done, and ...

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

I GOT A CONTRACT!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.29.2006 I had a wonderfully funny blog post planned for today, but I got sidetracked by some news yesterday! Zondervan has offered me a three-book contract on my Asian chick-lit series ! I’m still stunned by everything that’s happened. The series is actually a 4-book projected Asian chick-lit series about four cousins who fall under the infamous family title "Oldest Single Female Cousin," and their ruthless, wealthy grandma applies pressure on each of them to improve their lack of love interests. I think the first book is tentatively scheduled to be released in August 2007. The blurb on the series is on my website here . Brandilyn Collins posted to the ACFW loop about my writing journey, and Tamara Cooper asked that I share it. And since you all know how much I like to talk , here it is. My writing journey: Like most writers, I have wanted to write since I was very young. (In high school, I wrote a fantasy novel that will never see the light of day ...