MBTA update

      Another 1,000 words for Murder by the Acre today. This is all new material. That's the good news. The bad news is that more of the old material isn't going to fit now. I'm going to have to write another 25,000 or so new words to accommodate the changes in the plot. Sigh. But that's okay. I'm excited and pleased by the changes; they greatly improve the novel. So I'm still on track.
      I haven't forgotten the seven people who posted reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Noble of Murder by Dewey Decimal. I promised them the first chapter of MBTA. I haven't sent it yet because of all the changes the rewrite is making throughout the book. When the first chapter is in a final or close to final form, I'll be mailing it.
      I was surprised to recently learn that my little self-published book has earned me more royalties than the traditional published book of a friend of mine. And she has over 20 books published. Don't get excited: I'm not J.K. Rowling yet. I'm not even Bubba Rowling, her poor backwoods cousin. I won't be quitting my job any time soon.
      And my friend has made a lot more money from her books than I have because she received advances from her traditional publisher. (Her last advance was $30,000 dollars, of which her agent received 15 percent.) So why are her royalties so small? First, before she receives royalties, she has to "earn" back her advance. Second, most of her older books are no longer available, but they can't be reprinted unless the publisher chooses to do so. (This is one advantage that MBDD and MBTA will have over traditionally published books. I can keep them available to sell for as long as I like.) And third ... no, wait, there isn't a third reason. Yes, there is. Third, writers' royalty percentages are poor. My friend told me that she's looking at acquiring the rights for some of her earlier books so that she would have the option to self-publish them if she chose.
      Speaking of MBTA, I wrote a new character into the book this evening. He came out of the ether and added a wonderful complexity to the mystery. This is when writing is fun, when it surprises me, too.
      That's all the time I have tonight. Hope things are going well for you. Oh, I'm also posting on the Great Slimdown. Stop by there and join us in our pursuit of health and weight loss.
      Good night!