Monday, June 18, 2012

My first royalty check!

Musa released Paths Less Traveled on May 11, 2012. One of the other wonderful things about Musa (and yes, I can't brag on it enough) is that royalties for sales from the publisher's website are paid on the 15th of the month for the previous month. Sales from third-party sites like Amazon, Barnes and Nobels and Smashwords take longer to be paid. So, for sales from May 11 - May 31, 2012, my first royalty "check" arrived via Paypal on Friday. 

While I won't be retiring based on the amount getting a royalty payment is one of those "I have arrived" moments. I did a happy dance around the office (thankfully, no one saw that). I called the husband. I stared at the e-mail for a while. I was a professional writer now. Someone had paid for something I wrote.

Then it hit me.

The "oh crap" moment that follows the happy dance.

I'm a professional writer. That means I need to write. More. If I ever want to quit the day job, I also need to market. More.

Still, the stupid grin hasn't come off my face. And we did celebrate on Friday. All and all a good day.

I'm a writer. Watch me type.





11 comments:

Joanna Fay said...

Feeling the excitement, Nancy! :) Looking forward to my first 'check' too in the not too distant future....

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, I can empathize. It is a wonderful feeling! Now, back to work! ;)

DT said...

Congratulations, Nancy. Yep, that first royalty payment pretty much seals the deal, as far as becoming a sapling goes. I love the way we can see how our books are doing at a logged-in glance. Hurrah for technology.

And speaking of which, you need a Follow button on your blog!

Peter Lukes said...

Congrats Nancy, and many more!

Lizzie said...

The first royalty check is special...and yes, you are now a professional! Get busy with the writing and many more books (and checks) in your furture!

Rita Monette, Writer said...

Yay Nancy. Keep that grin on as long as you like. You worked for it. Can't wait until mine comes in, and I'm sure I'll blog about it too. Congrats!!!!

Cordelia Dinsmore said...

Congratulations, Nancy! Hope the numbers keep rising. I think I took care of my first four years of royalty checks with our celebration dinner, so I need to get back to the writing, too.

Clancy said...

I'm smiling too, now. That's awesome and I'm so happy for you :)
Keep those fingers typing!

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone for the good wishes. I know we spent more on the celebration than the payment, but it was SO worth it.

Unknown said...

Congratulations! So awesome.

Raphyel M. Jordan said...

Good for you, Nancy. That's GREAT news!