Profits

Is writing profitable? If you get an agent, a big advance, and killer marketing from a major publishing house, it’s probably easier. For those of us in the self-publishing industry? A little bit tougher. Okay, a LOT tougher. Why do I bring up this question? Because, for the first time since I published First, I can actually say I’ve made a profit. A few caveats about that, though. First of all, don’t get too excited. This isn’t the world of high finance and any numbers I’m talking about are low. Without getting into specifics, much lower than you think. Embarrassingly low. The kind of low that makes you shake your head and wonder why you’re even bothering with this endeavor. Lower than a middle-aged mom spends on coffee every month. Or week. Second, as you know, I run ads every weekend. That means any profit for a month has to outweigh the expense. This has only happened the last couple of months, finally generating a miniscule profit for the year. And third, I haven’t published anything this year, which was the major expense of the last few years. Limiting expenses somehow helps profitability. Who knew? That means the warning I got last year when I filed my taxes about my writing being considered a hobby if it has losses every year is now moot. At least I hope so. Sales continue to be at a level which should maintain a slim margin of profitability. I think I’ll celebrate by writing some more.