As a new author, I write and participate in social media and promote my book at every opportunity. I spend hours and hours on the computer, every day, without knowing: Am I doing this author thing right?

I think I write a decent book – based on reviews and the majority of comments I’ve received. (Thank you all, very much!)

But from a business standpoint: How is my book selling? Is being an author a viable occupation on a financial level? I mean, like you all, I have bills. My car needs fixing. My children need to go to college.

For those of you unfamiliar with writing for a traditional publishing house – and I am basing this post on my working with Harlequin – authors get sales reports (aka royalty statements) every six months. The nurse manager/businesswoman in me suffers dry heaves and the shakes at the thought of not knowing my book sales or having access to financial reports more often than every six months.

 To give you an example of how the process works: I received The Call in October 2010. My first book, When One Night Isn’t Enough, was officially released in June 2011. (In the UK, France, Germany) To my knowledge, Harlequin’s cutoff dates for sales data are June 30th and December 30th. Then the sales data is interpreted and compiled and authors receive statements of their sales five months later. So data collected in June is reported to the author in November, and data collected in December is reported in May.

So for my June release, other than my sales rankings on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, I have absolutely no idea how my book is selling overall, if my marketing is effective, or if I am going to earn any money above my initial advance until five months after the book was released. 

This  current lack of information and lack of control over my career makes self-publishing quite appealing. 

But I recently read a post about Simon and Schuster who is now providing their authors access to ongoing sales data! You can read the article here.  I think this is a wonderful step in the right direction, and I seriously hope other traditional publishers follow their proactive lead.

To my author friends: Who do you publish with? Do your books come out in print and e-book? What has your experience been? How often do you receive sales data/royalty statements?

To my reader friends: Do you read books from small e-book publishers? Do you read self-published books? If so, what has your experience been? Or do you simply go on the Amazon top sellers lists and order what appeals to you regardless of where it was published? And what sites do you visit to buy your books?

Thanks for stopping by!