There’s a lot of discussion going on about epublishing and RWA right now.  A lot.  I’ve waded into more than one and I figure I ought to explain why epublishing works so well for me.

I write for four pubs, two print, two epubs.  The books I write for my print pubs are usually scheduled a good year or more after I complete or sign a contract.  I’ve got three under contract with Ballantine that likely won’t be out until 2011 or so.  Yes, I received an advance, but advances don’t last forever-at least not for me.  YET.

That’s where my epubs come into play.  Epubs don’t pay an advance.  This is a big sticking point for some.  However, epubs provide quicker turn around and let you build a decent backlist in a short amount of time.  I’m a perfect example.  Since 2003, when I sold my first ebook, I’ve written more than fifty ebooks and save for one or two, all of them are still selling.  That backlist provides my month-to-month income.

In the time it takes me to submit a new book to open contract negotations to receive the first advance, I can, and have, written, edited and published an ebook for one of my epubs.  A short category length book that I wrote in the month of June will be out in November.  I’ll receive royalties in December.  Six months-that’s not really a bad turn around, and the money I’ve got coming in from my backlist lets me keep writing more.

Epubs also pay higher royalty rates.  My dig. royalties from my print pubs is no different from my print royalties and right now, my dig. titles there aren’t selling at exactly a brisk pace, because dig books in the mainstream are still new.  But my epubbed titles sell at a very brisk pace, so to speak.

I’m giving a rough average here, but consider that I spent about 4-6 weeks writing a novella/short category/short story.  For this purpose, we’ll say I’m doing a short category, around 40K, for Samhain Publishing.  That title will sell for $4.50.  I get 40% royalties.  Typically-and it does very some-I can expect to sell about 800-1000 during the first six weeks of publication.  Then the sales do tend to drop.  Each time I release another title, I see a bump in my backlist, but the best sales are always the first month or so of release.

Doing the math, I can expect to make up to $1800 (or more) on a story that took me about six weeks to write-I tend to split my writing time between my epubs and my print pubs.  To clarify, that’s the money I can expect to earn initially-in the first 4-6 weeks, but the title keeps selling and over time, the money can add up.

Now us writers know that I can’t really expect to ‘keep’ all that money.  Writers are self-employed and we have to pay our taxes out of our royalties, and there’s all the promo and expenses that go with being a writer.  But still-it’s not like I spent six weeks to sell a book for a couple of hundred dollars-I couldn’t live on that.  None of us could.

I write fast and I can keep up a fairly steady stream of shorter stories while focusing my longer stories for publication with Berkley or Ballantine.  It can definitely work, and for some, it can definitely be profitable work. This is how it works for me.