February 2010 Archives

I was in the Phoenix area recently for book events, and I had the good fortune to see one of my most enthusiastic and loyal readers, Joyce. Every author should be lucky enough to have an army of Joyce on his side, and I've been extremely fortunate to have many readers like her who are so wonderfully supportive.

Since my visit, Joyce has: launched a campaign to build a book club of 100 Brian Freeman readers at her work place (she's already past 20); charmed the manager of the local B&N into ordering more copies of my books and getting him to read me; written to the book reviewer at her local paper to suggest (it may be "demand"!) that she review The Burying Place when it's released; and sent an e-mail with review clips and a link to my web site to 50 of her friends.

Wow! I've told Joyce that I'm investigating cloning, and I may send her to New York to work for my publisher. I also promised that if she can get 100 Freeman fans in a book club, I'll certainly make the trip back to Arizona to meet them. (In the winter, of course...I'm no fool.)

I'm in the process of organizing my expenses for 2009 before the ritual of making our annual offerings to the IRS. I came across one royalty statement that opens a little window onto the life of an author. I'm not sure if it's funny, sad, or ironic...you'll have to decide for yourself!

The statement is for royalties earned in 2008 from one country for one book. The wire transfer arrived at my bank account in July -- so right from the start, I waited seven months for payment. The gross amount due to me? $153.75. (You think authors are rich, hmm? Ha ha, not so much.)

That was the gross amount. Then the mice began to nibble at the cheese. Here are the deductions: $15.38 to my primary agent, $15.38 to my co-agent in that country, $7.69 in foreign tax to that country, $44.60 in bank charges from the UK for doing the wire transfer, and $20 in bank charges from the US for receiving the wire transfer.

Net payment to me: $50.70. In other words, less than one third of the gross royalty. Oh, and that's before federal and state taxes, too!

Okay, that may be an extreme example, but I had to laugh when I added it all up. Well, I swore first, then I laughed.

I'll be speaking with members of the long-standing mystery book club at the Barnes & Noble Har Mar store in Roseville, Minnesota. The public is welcome, so feel free to stop by and join the discussion and get your copy of THE BURYING PLACE signed.

Brian visits O'Donoghue Books in Anoka, Minnesota, a great old-fashioned bookstore featuring new titles and rare, out of print books. He'll be answering questions and signing his books, including THE BURYING PLACE.

February is a busy month for library visits in Minnesota.

On Saturday, February 6, I'll be at the Northtown Library in Blaine at 2:00 pm. On the evening of Tuesday, February 16, I'll be at the Savage Library at 7:00 pm. Finally, on the evening of Thursday, February 25, I'll be visiting the Maple Plain Library at 6:30 pm. I'll be speaking and answering questions from readers at all of these events, and my books will be available for sale and signing if you've missed any of them along the way.

You can see a complete roster of my upcoming events at the Events page on the web site.

One enthusiastic reader noted my event in Blaine and wondered if I meant Blaine, Washington. She was ready to drive five hours to see me! I love the dedication, but I had to tell her I was in Minnesota, not Washington. Maybe next time!