For previous posts in this series, hit the VERY BAD PUBLISHERS link.

Comments from the original message board posts are included below. Apparently, it was not hard to figure out who The Woman was, for though her professional life was short, her life in fandom went on…

Also, additional commentary about remaindered books and the accounting for same.

OK, back to our story.

We didn’t quite hit rock bottom on that misery mine yet.

Now, in an ideal world, IF my book with The Woman had been getting an 8% of cover price royalty, it would still have to have sold over four times the 3,000 copies it actually DID sell to earn out the advance. My original understanding was that my advance would have been ammortized equally over the books in the contract (instead of being lumped against the first one) and, of course, I had no idea that the accounts would be cross-collatoralized over all books in the series and all books on contract I had with the company.

Unfortunately, after deductions for net costs, my meagre advance, and slashing half the royalty for sales at discounts of 50% or greater, and cutting another half for holds against returns, there was no way that a 12,000 advance sale on A Distant Soil would bring in any royalties either.

But things get even worse when you realize that, because The Woman was entitled to a half royalty share on the GN I had illustrated for her, I wouldn’t be getting 4% of cover, I would be getting more like 2% of cover, or about 14 cents per copy sold.

Now, to be fair, The Woman took no advance on the book herself which was generous of her, but then, she sure as hell didn’t need an advance, either. She not only got royalties on several books she edited at the company (even when the creators did not), she also got a salary that made her New York editor counterparts envious. She was permitted to work half days at home writing. She often didn’t come into the office until 1PM. The publisher was subsidizing her writing ambitions by paying salary for her to stay home and write at least a half dozen projects only one of which, to my knowledge, ever saw the light of day – the book I illustrated. (EDIT: To clarify, mine was the only FICTION project she had published there, that I know of. I think she had one or two non-fiction projects.)

So, simply to earn out the entire advance which was paid out over the course of a year and a few months (one year’s advance plus a short extension), the book would have had to sell almost 35,000 copies JUST TO PAY OUT THE ADVANCE of $300 a month and that DID NOT COUNT all the net deductions, 50% held against returns, etc. That was just to earn back what I had been paid even though what I had been paid amounted to the worst page rate I ever received in my entire career.

35,000 copies is good sales by any standard and I didn’t see that happening on this book.

To ALSO earn out enough to pay the colorist and letterer – and to pay the writer their 50% share – for me to even begin to see any more money on the project, it would have to sell between 60,000-70,000 copies.

Moreoever, for the entire time the book was earning out at a loss, ANY AND ALL losses would be deducted from profits on A Distant Soil. In the end, A Distant Soil would be forced to subsidize the book I was illustrating for The Woman.

(more…)

Oh my goodness, isn’t this just timely? And right in the middle of my VERY BAD PUBLISHER reposts!

GO READ RIGHT NOW!!!

OK, a publisher is approaching creators asking them to work on spec on a MR T project, and promises BIG RETURNS on the back end.

That’s what they ALL say.

This publisher’s previous graphic novel featuring MR T was touted in this press release. Did anyone ever see this? Did it sell? Did it make any money for the creators?

Buckley continues: ‘Most so-called “graphic novels” are reprints of comics, the equivalent of cobbling together a bunch of episodes of a TV show and calling it a “movie”; or works that, in their desire to be highbrow, determinedly distance themselves from their comic forefather.

‘Neither makes full use of the inherent potential in graphic novel storytelling. This book – an all-original like Mr. T himself – does.’

Good lord.

One wouldn’t want to be distanced from one’s “comic forefather”.

LESSON FOR TODAY:

Working on spec NEVER WORKS. At least, not in my experience.

Rarely does ANY celebrity-related project pay off for the comic creator. I’ve NEVER had a celebrity related project do diddly squat for my career. Ever. Period.

If JK Rowling waves her magic wand and gives you the Harry Potter assignment, you can bet the publisher will pay you up front.

A lot.

If MR T is all that and a bag of chips like his press release claims, he ought to be able to afford to pay the artist up front, too. One thing’s for damn sure: someone can afford a lawyer.

I spent years doing free crap on a small press author’s books, and at no time ever did a single one of those free jobs (correction: for one job in ten, I was paid a WHOPPING $500) pay off in terms of future work, prestige, better work, or anything else. Ever!

PROFESSIONALS GET PAID!!!

And as you know from my previous VERY BAD PUBLISHER posts, creative accounting can keep you from ever seeing any profits on the back end.

The other lesson for today: some Very Bad Publishers shut down and reopen under new names. Why, one of my old Very Bad Publishers did this years ago, then tried to get me to sign a contract with them all over again.

Yet they did not let me know they were on the Board of Directors for the new company. They simply had an editor call me up and make me an offer. It was some time before I found out that they were the exact same people whose company I had just left, using a new name.

Nice one, hunh?

No, didn’t fall for it.

AND BY THE WAY, a few words about those STUPID EMAIL DISCLAIMERS. Just because you send someone an email, that does not force a contract upon the recipient.

A secret shared with dozens of freelance artists you do not know, and with whom you have no prior professional experience, and whom you do not necessarily intend to pay for their work is no secret at all.