I am currently at work extrapolating my 2008 expenses like printer ink and sketchbooks and whatnot... and trying to remember all the hidden things (like toll fees to get to the salle), and I've come up with a number for the year and it's pretty horrific.

And then I realize if I sold one novel to one New York publisher, the advance would pretty much take care of it in one swoop. And that's just one novel. I have six right now already written and up to my current standards.

As I try to untangle the benefits of traditional publication in a world of evolving publishing models, I can't seem to escape the fact that lump sums of money are handy. Of the other two pros I've identified, one of them is obvious: it allows you to sit in your artistic garret and write. Your agent worries about money and your publisher about marketing. The other is nebulous: it reaches a non-computer-reading audience. I call that nebulous because I don't know how much intersection there is between you good folk reading me now and people who would read me if they picked up a book in a bookstore but who had otherwise never heard of me (or, I guess, the Internet).

Of course, as elusivetiger points out, that assumes you actually are making money from that process. Which I'm not, since my agent hasn't sold my books. Which brings me to the major con of this process, and the one I can't seem to accept emotionally: that I have readers who want my books, that I have books to sell, but that the middlemen won't oblige either of us.

I don't know how long I can continue to hold that contradiction in my heart without going postal.


Anyway, on to the administrivia:

If you sent me money for a print, it's in the mail--thank you!

Tomorrow I will be posting the introduction for the Admonishments and the first call for patronage.

And finally, a poll, so you can help me choose my printer:

Poll #1119008 Archival Prints
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

You have a choice: buy a print that will last 5-10 years and cost you only $10, or get one that will last you (purportedly) your lifetime for twice that. This presumes (of course) that you keep it out of sunlight and don't abuse it, in both cases. There are three options... please, think it over carefully! :)

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Tags: art, poll, writing
Current Mood: *shaking head*