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books, booksales, conversation, finance, freelance, idea, jazz, marketing, money, Spirituality, workshop, writing
Before the pandemic while working for Ms. Anne Thrope, I also led workshops on writing and traveled to speak and to sign copies of my books at bookstores, churches, conferences, and the like.
Last week I facilitated a workshop conversation via Zoom. A good event, but it reminded me of an odd exchange at a workshop five years ago. A man with publishing aspirations came to me during a break and said, “This is really interesting and I’ve learned more than I expected, but tell me, what do you get out of writing?”
I heard a question that seemed to connect with my theological-philosophical background and might have opened me to talk about the jazz of writing. I responded, “I get satisfaction from seeing my ideas connect with people. When I receive emails from people who have read my books and they want to know more, that’s part of what I get. A few weeks ago I heard from a reader of my little book on prayer who wanted to know why he hadn’t heard anything like this in church. For me, it’s teaching and offering ideas to the larger conversation.”
“That’s nice, but that isn’t what I meant. What do you make from your books? How much money do you earn?”
And I laughed. Always better to laugh than to cry.
“Seriously,” he said, “I’m really curious how much money I might be able to make if I write books like yours.”
“If you write nonfiction books like mine and most other writers, you’ll earn satisfaction from the continuing conversation, but you won’t make any stratospheric money from royalties. 90% of the nonfiction books sell fewer than a thousand copies during their first year of publication. We hear about books that sell a quadrillion copies, but those rare sales figures are marketing fantasies. People don’t read the way they once did.”
“If that’s true, why would anyone write a book?”
“To work out ideas and concepts and to educate and engage other people in conversation.” I began to expound on this theme when he held up his hands in a stop motion.
“Well, I don’t know about that. I want to write a book or two that will make a lot of money,” he said. “You don’t seem very encouraging.” He walked away from our conversation. I didn’t see him again.
I hope that he finds a way to write the book that breaks the rules, sells a triple-quadrillion, and goes far. When he does, I’ll attend his workshop.