Hayden Trenholm Writer

You can’t roam the writing blogosphere without tumbling over someone’s take on the transition from traditional publishing to whatever is going to replace it – print on demand, e-books, self publishing,
alternative publishing.  Here’s another one.

I am largely catholic in my views on the matter.  Books will be written; books will be published; books will be read.   The mechanism by which that happens is largely irrelevant – except to those who make money from it.  Because ultimately this is about: the transfer of information/ideas/art
from creators to consumers in exchange for value.  I use the term value deliberately because not all writers (or musicians, painters, actors) are in it just for the money.  Some want recognition; some want to make art.  But make no mistake; a value transaction does take place.  It all depends if you are feeding the id (money), the ego (recognition) or the superego (art).

Personally, I tend to side with Samuel Johnson, who said: “None but a blockhead writes except for money.” Obviously, I’m not simply in it for the money – if only because I can make way more money doing other things. I write because I like to tell stories and putting words on paper (screen) is more socially acceptable that dominating social gatherings with endless blah-blah-blah.  Who wants
to be a bore?  And it gives me an excuse for avoiding things I don’t want to do: “I’d love to come to your son’s recital but I’m trying to finish my novel,” or, more commonly, “Honey, I’ll clean the bathroom as soon as this chapter is done.”

Of course, people are always cagey about their income – they either are making a decent income and don’t want to make you feel bad about the fact you’re not (or are worried you’ll ask for a loan or, worse yet, a recommendation to their agent/publisher). Alternatively, they are making very little and are embarrassed to tell you – because low income from art is another way of saying: “no one cares about my work.”  Take comfort – even the most successful writer in the world has more people who don’t care about their work than do.  (Harry Potter books have probably been read by 200 million people; that leaves 5.8 billion who haven’t read even one – including me).

The first thing to know is that the vast majority of people who work in the book business make little or no money from their efforts.  Writers, editors, publishers, distributors, book sellers – far less than 1% of them ever get rich from doing it.  Only a minority have made decent livings (and all I mean by that is a lower middle class income).  Most – even those who do it full-time – live in poverty or depend on a spouse to support them. I have a friend who won the Governor General’s Award twice but only had a regular income when the Old Age Security kicked in.  I have another friend who has been widely published but has never earned more than $30,000 a year from their art, usually a lot less.  There are lots of publishing interns in NY living on less than $10000 a year (how, I don’t know).   

Oh, some people are still making big bags of money – Rowling and Brown, the owners of Amazon, a few of the biggest publishing  companies (though maybe not for much longer).  At the same time, advances to new writers are in free-fall and the average a typical writer makes per book has
declined too. The most successful writers are taking an ever larger share of the market at the same time that the total number of books available (thanks to e-book self publishing) have sky-rocketed. Meanwhile, no one seems to know if the total market for books has increased at all. 
The impact on writers incomes suggests it isn’t or at least not much.

I spent six years writing full-time (well except for the teaching, acting and occasional stint as a bartender).  In my best year I made the princely sum of $18,000.  Let’s say $24,000 in 2012 dollars.   But on average I made about $12,000 ($15,000).  Doesn’t sound like much does it?  It isn’t but, thanks to a supportive spouse, I could live on it.  Then came year six, when a combination of factors dropped my income to a mere $6000.  End of full-time artistic career.

Since I went back to a regular job, I’ve averaged between $1500 and $3000 a year, writing part-time. This is despite a significant web-presence and having won numerous awards for my writing.  It’s a nice hobby (one I spend 20 hours a week on – earning $1 to $2 an hour, before expenses.)

Yes, I know there are people who claim to make millions self-publishing their e-books.  They even write books to tell you how you can do the same.  You probably can’t.

There have always been people in the right place, at the right time, with the right product (yes, I called books, a product).  In other words, luck, persistence, talent –those are the keys and you not only need all three, you need them in just the right mix.  Oh, and sheer volume helps too.  Six crappy books a year might make as much or more than one good one.  There is nothing new about this and it is equally true whatever delivery system was used.  (Tennessee Williams – who always claimed poverty – died before the Internet was born with an estate of $11 million; Bulwer Lytton (“It was a dark and stormy night”) lived like a king off his writing: hundreds of plays and novels, proving quantity is an alternative to quality when it comes to making dough.)

Does this sound discouraging?  Maybe – but if you can be discouraged from writing by what I’ve said, then you probably shouldn’t be doing it anyway.  The fact that bank-robbing is a low income, high risk job doesn’t discourage bank-robbers either.  (Maybe because there is nothing more high status in prison than bank-robbery – feeding the ego!)

Money.  Just a couple more thoughts.  Does e-publishing (self or through traditional publishers) give more money to writers than traditional publishing?  
 
First, writers receive a royalty based on sales.  For traditional books, that royalty runs from 8% to 15% depending on format (hard-covers pay more but sell less; mass market paperbacks, the opposite), publisher and fame/success of the writer.  That means roughly $0.80 to $5.00 per book sold.  Given the bias toward paperbacks: $2 to $3 a book seems about right.

E-books pay a higher royalty – quite often about 25% but given that e-books sell for less than an equivalent paper book, that works out to, oh, about $2 to $3 a book. Self-published e-books often sell for even less (to attract more buyers to make up for the loss of even the minimal publicity publishers provide) but can garner as much as a 70% royalty.  Oh, look, $2 to $3 a book (and no guaranteed income from the advance).

So how many books do you need to sell to make the poverty line in the USA?  5000 a year.  That’s 14 a day, every day for a year.  To make my best income as an artist.  10,000 to 12,000 books a year.  To make a decent lower middle class living –at least twice that.  Which by the way would put you half way to being at the low end of best-seller.

And free books?  70% of nothing is still nothing.  And as for 10000 downloads of your free book. 
I suspect, they suffer the same fate as Steven Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.  The most widely
distributed science book ever – but how many were actually read?  I’ve downloaded a few free books (not counting the famous public domain ones) even a few for 0.99.  I’ve started few and finished none.  I  don’t bother anymore – my experience has confirmed my prejudice that if it’s
that cheap, there must be something wrong with it.

And pirates?  Oh, I know they’re just sharing (though how so many of them get rich from doing it is unclear to me).  I’ve heard all the arguments – they increase your readership, your fame, your
popularity and influence blah, blah, blah. And it will eventually increase sales. Yeah, you know, like the way shoplifters return to buy things in the stores they stole from.

Have I discouraged myself? Not in the least.  I still hope to make enough money to pay for travel to SF conventions and book fairs, to subsidize my own reading and art consuming habits, maybe even pay for a trip to Paris or a few meals at a five-star restaurant. Strictly research, of course.

Besides what else would I do to fill my empty hours?  Housework?

I know I’m three weeks late but in my defence let me remind you that it is Chinese New Year – time for Rabbits to become Dragons.  Not a bad metaphor for the year just past.

Last year, I experienced both highs and lows but generally I feel I’m at a better place today than I was a year ago – not a bad result given the laws of thermodynamics and the inevitable effects of entropy.  

Let’s start with some statistics: I started 35 books and finished 34 of them.  The best was Room by
Emma Donahue, followed by Robert J. Sawyer’s Wonder (made sweeter by being dedicated to my wife and me).  I read six books and countless articles on Paris between the wars – research for my new novel – ranging from good to excellent. I learned a great deal but I’m not finished yet.  I also
watched 45 movies though I turned six of them off before the end. An even dozen were seen in movie theatres – the most in quite a few years.  The best of the bunch: Hugo and The King’s Speech, though Midnight in Paris was a close third – Woody’s best in a decade.  My best video
experience was Paris, je t’aime, a quirky little film anthology.  I also watched a lot of TV on DVD – notably The Big Bang Theory, Stargate Universe and British shows, Sherlock and Being Human. 
I saw several great concerts – mostly at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, including Paco De Lucia, Elvis Costello and Robert Plant.  Joshua Redmond was also excellent.  On the down side, I didn’t go to live theatre even once – perhaps for the first time in almost thirty years.  I went to three SF
conventions.

My writing career took several odd turns as well.  I didn’t publish a novel or even a single short story – my first dry year since 2003. Still, my novel, Stealing Home, was nominated for both the Sunburst and the Aurora Award and my short story, The Burden of Fire, published in Neo-Opsis Magazine in 2010 won the Aurora for best short fiction.  These were my 8th nominations and second win.  Despite the lack of publications, I was plenty busy as a writer.  I conceived and researched a new series of mysteries set in Paris between the wars and wrote the first/second drafts of the first book.  It is out to first readers and I will write a fresh draft this spring.  My research included a six-day solo trip to Paris in October and I have another eight day visit planned in June.  This time Liz gets to come.  It looks like my Ottawa French lessons are finally paying off.  At the end of the year, I took on a fresh challenge when Bundoran Press hired me to edit their new anthology, Blood and Water, due out in August, 2012.  And I managed to write four short stories as well, all currently in the mail or in revision.

My writing group, the East Block Irregulars, had some changes and some big successes this year. 
Founding member, Derek Künsken, sold his third story to Asimov’s become SFWA eligible, while Matt Moore and Marie Bilodeau were both Aurora nominees.  Another long time member, Peter Atwood, left Ottawa for a year in China but remains a full-fledged if inactive member.  We welcomed
Geoff Gander and Agnes Cadieux to our ranks. We strongly encourage each other to keep writing and submitting and actively critique each other’s work.  And we have loads of fun, too.

On a personal note, Liz and I moved from The Place That Shall Not Be Named to a lovely downtown condo. We are poorer but much happier. We became grandparents for the second time and Liz started a new job (and developed asthma).  And we both were successful at our diet – though our plan to lose years rather than pounds seems to have fallen by the way-side.

Of course the year was not all about me.  We had the astounding rise and untimely death of Jack Layton, the long-sought majority of Steven Harper (rabbits to dragons indeed), financial crisis part 2, the Arab spring, Canadian climate cowardice, pipeline battles and Republican turmoil – notably the rise and fall and rise of Newt Gingrich.  And of course the usual round of marriages, deaths, shootings, election triumphs and losses, books
and movies rise and fall (a few perhaps destined to be classics but not nearly
so many as the media hipsters think). 



Gosh, can 2012 possibly match that?

Forgive me followers for I have not opined; it’s been  over a year since my last blog session.  Thank you, thanks very much – I’m in town until next Tuesday.  Try the jumbo shrimp.

The hardest thing about (re-)starting a blog is coming  up with a timely topic.  There have been no shortage of political developments since November 2010 and I’ve even had a few new writing adventures.  E-books appear to have turned the corner and become the last big thing.  Heck, I even have a second grandson to brag about, not to mention countless exciting trips here, there and
everywhere.

I guess I’ll have to make this a regular thing – along with Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook.  As Leslie Winkle might say – ‘call me.’

Maybe the best place to start is to say why I stopped and why I’m back. Unlike smoking or collecting Christmas music, quitting a blog is remarkably easy.  It requires a conscious decision to blog, you have to go someplace special to do it, and there is some effort involved – blood, sweat and tears even if only occasionally in the literal sense.  Yes, blogging is like going to the gym – you know you should and you feel good after but it doesn’t take much to keep you away.

So it wasn’t you dear followers – if any of you are still there – it was me.  When I started to blog, I could find nothing to say.  And when I was full of outrage, insight and wit, I was often away from a keyboard (or too full of wine to properly use one).

So what has changed?

New year – new attitude. Don’t get me wrong, this is not the result of a resolution.  As a friend of mine used to say: Goals are for hockey players.  

However, 2011 had its share of trials and tribulations.  It also had a number of real breakthroughs, professionally on several fronts and personally as well.  I’ve decided that 2012 is a good time to translate all my dreams into reality. With the Mayan apocalypse pending (which I refuse to dignify with a hyperlink), I’m running out of time.

My own personal apocalypse may be a little farther off but, believe it or not, I expect to retire in six or seven years.  Though I won’t be plunging into the abyss any time soon, I should soon be able to see it on the horizon.  Neat – no more dentists; no more back pain.  Given my somewhat dissolute life –graduate school, 12 years in the arts during my (supposedly) most financially productive years and a general failure to settle down – retirement will be more pewter-coloured than golden.  Que sera, sera.

So, my goals this year are simple.  Increase my income now so I can ensure my security (yes, I still do believe in that word despite how twisted it has become since the ‘spooks’ got a hold of it) for the future. And find a way to transition successfully from part-time writer and full-time policy wonk to full-time author and part-time grumpy old man.

My revenue plans are my own affair but as to the rest:

I’ve got a new mystery novel I’m in the process of having critiqued so I can begin marketing this spring.  And I’ve started work on the sequel.  Set in Paris.  Which justifies going there.  Again.

I’ve an old SF novel I am furiously re-writing to have ready at the same time.

I’m editing a collection of short stories for Bundoran Press– both for the fun of it and to put another arrow in my quiver.

I’m beginning the process of finding an agent – not easy but I’m getting good advice.

And I’m going to 5 conventions this year to help me market myself and my projects.

And I’m Facebooking, Linking, Tweeting, and yes, blogging!  Watch for me here or over at http://eastblockirregulars.wordpress.com/with other members of my writing group. I may not manage once a week – but I’m aiming for more than once a month.

I’ve had my schedule for SFContario for some time – but I’ve just been too busy to get it posted.

SFContario is the new science fiction convention being held in Toronto November 19-21, 2010.  Hope to see you there.

Sat. 10 AM – Ballroom BC
Short stories and Novellas; Where’s the love? Sure, we say we love reading shorter works, but it’s the novels that sell, and awards for
shorter fiction tend to go to successful novelists. Why don’t short stories and novellas get more respect? (Stephanie Bedwell-Grime(M), Leah Bobet, Michael Swanwick, Hayden Trenholm)

Sat. 11 AM   – Essex Hallway   Autograph session

Sat. 1 PM – Courtyard
Keeping the Science in Science Fiction The technology of a story is critical to any work of science fiction. How does a writer keep the science believable and interesting in order to maintain the enthusiasm of the reader? How do you make unrealistic science, FTL drives, time travel etc., believable to the reader without reversing the polarity of the tachyon beam and rerouting it through the deflector dish? (Dr. Alex Pantaleev, Robert Sawyer(M), Alison Sinclair, Hayden Trenholm, Robert Charles Wilson)

Sat. 3 PM – Ballroom BC
Exposition versus Character At a Clarion workshop, Michael Swanwick said "All writing is about finding the correct balance between dinosaurs and sodomy," referring to the balance between science (setting/exposition) and fiction (characters and plot). John Campbell argued that too much character got in the way of the science. Was he right? How should authors balance these aspects of a story? Has this changed over the history of science fiction? (Ed Greenwood, Violette Malan, Robert Sawyer. Caro Soles, Hayden Trenholm (M))

Sun. 11 AM – Ballroom A
Writing the Future A lot of people seem to think the future will be like the past but with better gadgets. How do you create a credible near future (up to 50 years from now)? What things are likely to change and what will stay the same? Technological and scientific change are important but they aren't the whole story. How do you incorporate probable or possible changes in the environment, economy and politics, culture and social mores into a believable future? (Madeline Ashby, Ira Nayman, Dr Alex Pantaleev, Hayden Trenholm(M), Robert Charles Wilson)

Sun. 1 PM –  Gardenview          Reading from Stealing Home