Dare To Dream
January 22, 2009
Yes, yes, everyone who regularly reads this blog is going to scoff--scoff, I tell you!--and say, "I see Mark's medications finally kicked in."
I got an e-mail last night from my agent detailing the, er, details about her negotiations with my new publisher (The Player To Be Named Later). As with most contract negotiations there were good things, some interesting peculiarities and some things where you think, "What? Oh, okay, I guess I can live with that."
Anyway, I gave her the e-mail version of a thumb's up and I imagine I'll be seeing contracts fairly soon.
So I allowed myself some thinking along the lines of:
--Maybe it'll build a readership and we'll sell several thousand copies.
--Maybe it'll catch fire and sell several hundred thousand copies!!! Or a million!
--Maybe we'll get lots of lucrative foreign sales (or even some meh foreign sales, because if you get enough of them, those Euros, pesos, yuan, rubles and pounds add up).
--Maybe we'll get a film option!!!
--Maybe it'll get made into a TV series or a successful movie!
--Maybe....
Uh-huh. Well, as long-time readers of this blog know, I'm a skeptic. All you can really expect from a book sale is your advance. In that I've had some book contracts that didn't involve advances, had a publisher go under before publication (two, actually) and been dropped by a publisher mid-multi-book contracts, I think it's safe to say that you can't necessarily even count on that.
Still, it's better to be published than not and if it gives you the realistic option of wondering if the lottery ticket in your hand might be the big winner, at least for a couple minutes, I suppose it'll perk up your day a bit, which is a good thing.
So yes folks, dare to dream.
Cheers,
Mark Terry
posted by Mark Terry at 6:01 AM
7 Comments:
LOL! Keep dreaming, Mark! (Um, that could be taken sarcastically, but I meant it sincerely.)
Right now, royalties are my only investment towards retirement, LOL! I don't know. NY is weird.
Hey, you know you're an optimist compared to me.
And that lottery ticket is something a lot of writers wish they had. Plus, unlike most lottery tickets, it pays you something and gets you readers. It has a nice cover and you can put it on your shelf.
Nothing wrong with dreaming big ... I'm one of those guys that aims really high because even if you miss by a little, you're still doing OK.
I'm actually okay with dreaming big as long as you're tempered with reality. When I started out writing fiction I was sure I'd break in quick and make a lot of money, that if you were a published author you were making a bunch of money. Ah, those were the days, when ignorance was bliss.
You couldn't be a good writer if you didn't have enough imagination to dream those things. Good to hear things are moving forward.
What?! Are you saying that it's hard to break in, and that once you do, you won't be rolling in the dough? 'Cause if you are, I'm not hearing it.
Yes, yes, Jon, I'm sure that comes as a big shock to you.
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