Friday is going to search for traps, make a perception check, and cast Protection from Evil before entering the dungeon labeled “2022.”
Welcome to my 14th annual blog post about writing income. I’ve been doing this partly to dispel the myth that writers are swimming in cash like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin, and partly as a data point to help newer writers get a slightly more realistic (I hope) idea what they might be in for.
Keep in mind that I’m just one data point, and no writer’s career is exactly the same as any other’s. But one datum is better than none, right? And if other authors do similar posts about their 2021 income, let me know and I’ll link those from here.
Prior Years: Here are the annual write-ups going back to 2007: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.
In 2016, instead of a personal income write-up, I did a survey of almost 400 novelists about their income.
My Background: I’m a primarily “traditionally published,” U.S.-based SF/F author with 14 books in print from major New York publishers. The first of those books came out from DAW in 2006, and I’ve averaged more or less a book a year since then. (The past few years are an exception. I’ll talk about that later.) I have an agent, and have been with them since about 2004.
I’ve self-published a middle grade fantasy and a few short collections. I’ve also sold about 50 short stories to different magazines and anthologies.
I’ve never hit the NYT or USA Today bestseller lists, but my last five books have been lead titles for my publisher.
I’m currently a solo parent of a teenager (at home) and a 21-year-old (away at college). I work a half-time day job, partly for the paycheck, but mostly for the benefits. I would love to say I write every single day, but sometimes life has other plans.
2021 in Summary: I’m going to focus on the writing here, because otherwise I’ll spend the next 5000 words griping. I mean, come on — we didn’t even get Betty White celebrating her 100th birthday? F***ing 2021.
Okay, writing stuff. Right…
This was another slow year in terms of publication. Terminal Peace had been delayed already because of my family’s medical crisis throughout 2019. I got the book turned in back in September of 2020, but thanks to COVID and some business issues my publisher was dealing with, it won’t be published until August 2022. I think the only publication I had last year was a reprint of “Gift of the Kites” in Arcana.
I did, however, write a new middle grade novel my agent is shopping around, and I got about 90% of another book rewritten. That will hopefully be ready to go on submission within another month or two.
We also sold Russian rights to Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen, which was a lovely surprise.
So while I produced almost two books, 2021 was a year with no original Jim C. Hines publications, which is a bit frustrating and discouraging. It also makes the income numbers more interesting, at least to me.
2021 Income: The biggest check came from the Delivery/Acceptance payment for Terminal Peace. While I delivered that manuscript in September 2020, the payment didn’t make its way through the system and get to me until 2021. I’m kind of glad, because otherwise this year’s numbers would be a lot more depressing.
Royalties from my audio publishers and my U.S. publisher made up the next most significant chunk.
In total, before taxes, I brought in $24,243.50 in writing income. That’s down more than $7000 from last year, which isn’t terribly surprising. It’s still better than I did in 2019, aka The Year From Hell.
Here’s the trend graph going back to 2002. (2006 is when Goblin Quest came out from DAW. That was my first book from a major publisher, and I consider it a turning point in my career. You can see the numbers start to jump after that year.)
Expenses were between $500 and $1000, which is a lot less than last year. I was also paying quarterly estimated taxes, which came out to a couple thousand dollars.
2021 Income Breakdown:
Patreon continues to be a small but helpful source of income. My thanks to everyone for that!
The “Other” category is things like the honorarium I received for doing Grand Rapids Comic Con, payment for a session I did at a different convention, and so on.
Interestingly, the short fiction total is almost exactly the same as last year. Almost all of that comes from ongoing royalties for a story I did for Shadowed Souls a few years back.
- Novels (U.S. editions): $15,400.64
- Novels (Non-U.S. editions): $2167.16
- Self-Published: $1707.45
- Short fiction: $232.49
- Audio: $2090.69
- Patreon: $1620.07
- Other: $1025
Looking Ahead: I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly with Terminal Peace and the book comes out on schedule.
As for my own goals, I’d love it if the middle grade book my agent is shopping around actually found a home, but we’ll see. If not, I may look into another Kickstarter like I did with Goblin Queen in 2020. I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to sell the standalone fantasy I’m finishing up. I also have an idea for another new middle grade fantasy I’d like to try.
But really, I just want to get through 2022 with my health and sanity, you know?
I hope this has been helpful. As always, feel free to share the post and ask any questions. And if you know of anyone else doing an income roundup, let me know in the comments and I’ll add those links to the post.
One of the nice things about 2021 was that I finally seemed to get enough of my brain back to start reading novel-length work again. So I figured I’d chat about some of the highlights…
Nectar for the God, by Patrick Samphire. This is the sequel to Samphire’s Shadow of a Dead God, which I reviewed back in June 2020. Like the first book, this is quick-paced epic fantasy, following down-on-his-luck wizard Mennik Thorn as he once again gets in over his head with pretty much everyone and everything. This one had a darker tone, an almost Lovecraftian layer of deep, forgotten magic and gods. It also gives us more of Thorn’s background and what he went through with his mother, the high mage known as Countess. Overall, a bit grimmer than the first book, but still a fun read.
A Study in Honor, by Claire O’Dell. A near-future story about Doctor Janet Watson and the brilliant agent Sara Holmes. I really liked this take on Holmes and Watson, particularly the way it shows Watson working through the traumatic aftermath of her experiences in a modern U.S. civil war. Holmes is presented as a more mysterious character — a mystery Watson works to solve — and that approach worked for me. My one disclaimer is that if you own a MAGA hat and believe Trump won the 2020 election, you probably won’t enjoy this one.
The Purloined Poodle, by Kevin Hearne. This is a shorter book set in Hearne’s Iron Druid world, but told from the point of view of Oberon, the protagonist’s Irish Wolfhound. There’s a mystery plot and some magic, but the best part is the sheer fun of Oberon’s narration. Scheming for treats, watching out for suspicious squirrel activity … anyone who loves dogs will probably enjoy this one and the sequel.
A Game of Fox and Squirrels, by Jenn Reese. This is a powerful middle grade fantasy about an eleven year old girl who’s moved out of her parents’ home, and has to come to terms with the abuse she and her sister faced there. She starts out just wanting everything to go back to normal, and she discovers a magical quest that could grant her wish … but that wish comes with a cost. Her quest and the eponymous card game she learns about show different patterns of abuse and power and control. I know I said this already, but it’s a very powerful book.
This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. An award-winning love story between time traveling agents on opposite sides of an ongoing war. It’s beautiful and poetic and playful and dark and ultimately quite satisfying. Not a traditionally commercial page-turner, but very rich. I had to read this one more slowly.
Happy holidays to all those celebrating. Hoping for better things in 2022 for everyone!
Friday does whatever a spider can. Which gets kind of gross sometimes, honestly.
- Holiday dogs
- Pets looking creepy
- Triple-changing Transformer made from LEGO. I know what I want for Christmas!
Friday apologizes to you all in advance for the scene I’m currently working on.
- Cat parents
- Animals being animals
- Happy News from 2021, Illustrated!
- Comedy Pet Photo Award Winners for 2021
Friday was not ready for the sudden arrival of December.
- Dogs being goofy
- When superheroes aren’t busy saving the world…
- LEGO goblin bust. One of these days, I need to dig up some blue bricks and see if I can build a Jig…
- Bad stock photos of people’s jobs
- Sign fails
- Ferrets!
Friday is excited to see Dune. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a good beach movie!
Friday has almost finished repainting the bathroom!
- Poorly translated signs from South Korea
- Poorly translated Hanzi and Kanji tattoos
- Halloween pets (Note: I assume no responsibility for what your pets do to you if you try to dress them up in these costumes.)
- Squirrels! (And other animals.)
- Sloths!
Tonight as part of Geek Fest, I’ll be doing a virtual chat through the Portage District Library, talking about the power and importance of humor in SF/F.
This will be similar to a panel I did at ICON over the weekend, but with 90 minutes, I’ll be able to get a bit broader and deeper. My plan is to talk about things that should be relevant to writer, but interesting to non-writers as well.
Here are the details from the library:
Date Time: Oct 21, 2021 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Jim Hines: Writing Humor in Fantasy and Science Fiction
Description: Michigan native and fantasy/science fiction author Jim C. Hines comes to Geek Fest to talk about how and why to include humor in your SF/F stories! Join the Hugo Award-winning author of the Goblin Quest trilogy, the Princess series, Magic ex Libris, and the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse, and take away tips for your own writing! This Zoom webinar program is open to everybody. A moderated question and answer session will follow the presentation.
First off, everyone is more-or-less okay.
A week ago today, I got a call from my mother that she was in the emergency room with my father. He’d fallen while getting things ready in the truck for a camping trip they were planning to take this week. After a CAT scan or two, they found that he’d fractured his temporal bone and given himself a nasty concussion.
He was banged up, but the biggest concern was the bleeding in the brain. Bleeding that wasn’t helped by the fact that he’d taken asprin (a blood thinner) earlier in the day. They weren’t sure whether they’d have to operate.
Thankfully, with clotting drugs and blood pressure meds and a transfusion of platelets, they got the bleeding under control. He ended up staying about 3-4 days in the neuro ICU and another day or so in a neuro step-down room before coming home.
I wasn’t able to visit while he was in the hospital, but I’ve gone over pretty much every day since he came home. Physically, he’s in a fair amount of pain, as well as dealing with the weakness that comes after being stuck in a hospital bed for close to a week. Mentally, he seems to be much more himself than he was when I talked to him on the phone a week ago. But it’s going to take a while to bounce back from this.
All of which is to say, if you’ve been expecting an email or phone call or anything like that from me, just know that I’m running a bit more behind than usual.
As scary as the past week has been, we all recognize that it could have been much, much worse. So I think we’re trying to focus on the gratitude side of things.
Friday is– What’s that? “Saturday,” you say? Fascinating.
Friday has started what will (hopefully) be the final big rewrite of this book!
“I don’t know how to explain to you why you should care about other people.”
-Lauren Morrill
Here in the U.S., we’ve reached the point that 1 in 500 Americans have died of COVID.
Reading the responses to this news has been enlightening. Some people have immediately pointed out that 1 in 500 is only 0.2%. Others responded that 0.2% of the U.S. population is roughly 660,000 dead.
All of which is correct. But while the mathematics are equivalent, they don’t necessarily suggest the same thing.
The 0.2% figure is the chance, all else being equal, of you as an individual dying of COVID. If your focus is on your individual safety, then 0.2% looks like pretty good odds. Of course, everything else isn’t equal. Some states have higher COVID rates than others. Some people have more risk factors. (By the way, one of the biggest risk factors these days is being unvaccinated. I’m just saying…)
The 660,000+ number, on the other hand, is about the damage this virus has done to us as a country. COVID has killed far more Americans than died in World War II. It’s killed more than the entire population of Vermont. From a community standpoint, COVID has been devastating.
And this doesn’t even touch on the roughly 10% of people who contract long COVID, meaning they’ll have long-term health consequences from this disease.
Now, I’m glad that the odds of me personally dying of COVID are relatively low. But when I see people focusing exclusively on that 0.2% figure as a way to attack COVID precautions, well, it makes it very clear who those people really care about, and who they don’t.
Friday could be the start of a very interesting weekend…
Fridays keep sneaking up on me like ninja turtles.
Friday’s goblins are part of an audio book humble bundle.
Friday has an online Readercon panel tonight and Grand Rapids Comic Con programming on Sunday!
- Dog dorks
- Dog shaming
- Cat dorks (it’s only fair, right?)
- Making Maleficent Cosplay (FB Video)
One of the questions I hear a lot is about finding the time to write. My process has varied over the past 25 years. During my undergrad years, I’d write in the evenings. When I started working for the State, I wrote during my lunch hour each day, along with whatever I could squeeze in during evenings and weekends. When Amy was sick, I basically stopped writing for close to a year.
I usually say it’s about priorities and choices. We all have 24 hours in a day. It’s up to us to choose how to use them.
That doesn’t mean we all have the same opportunity to write, or that we could all write three books a year if we just made the “right” choices and set better priorities, because some of those priorities are pretty much non-negotiable.
Let’s say, for instance, you’re a full-time single parent. You’ve going to have a baseline minimum amount of time each day that you’re taking care of the kid(s), keeping the house from getting too gross, running errands, and so on.
Or maybe you have a chronic illness or disability. That could mean you have to spend a certain amount of time on self-care just in order to function for the rest of your day.
Do you have a full-time job? Multiple jobs? Do you have your own car, or are you taking public transportation (which may or may not be conducive to writing) every day? Are you the primary caretaker for a parent or other aging relative?
In other words, yes, we all have 24 hours a day to work with. But we don’t all have the same flexibility in how we use those 24 hours.
Making time to write is still a choice. Maybe all you can manage is a couple of 30-minute stints each week. Maybe you have a spouse with a great full-time job, freeing up at least 8 hours a day (theoretically) for you to write.
I’ve been struggling more for the past two years, and I get frustrated because I don’t feel like I’m making as much time to write as I used to. But I don’t have the same flexibility I used to have, either. I have to remember it’s not fair to compare myself and my productivity to that of other writers, all of whom have different demands on their time.
It’s not even fair to compare myself to the me of three years ago.
So I make the best choices I can, the same as always. I try to prioritize, which means some things just don’t get done. That’s the main reason blogging has been so sparse for a while, compared to pre-2019 levels.
Decide what’s important, and do the best you can. And you know what? Self-care is important too. Down time is important. Time spent with friends and family is important. Taking the afternoon to go see The Suicide Squad with friends isn’t a betrayal of your writing dreams.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, and having done dishes and finished a load of laundry and cleaned up the dog’s bloody wart and tracked down that thing my daughter wanted for her apartment, I’m going to go see if I can finish another scene on the Project K rewrite.
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