# My First Royalty Check!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 10, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239 "2022-05-10T15:20:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/1 "2022-05-10T15:20:55Z")
(book one: GenderQueer: A Story From a Different Closet)
I won’t be quitting my day job, but it was nice to have this arrive in yesterday’s mail.
[ ](https://www.genderkitten.com/WS4/ah3files2/IMG_3950a_web.jpg)
Fledgling authors get warned a lot about discouragement and despair in the querying and submitting phase, and I would still consider that to be the hardest and most demoralizing slog to get through. But if, like me, you get published by a small publisher that’s in no position to do promotion and marketing and advertise your book, you’ll most likely face a second discouraging phase once it’s actually in print and it seems like no one is reading it.
My sales didn’t take off like a skyrocket, going ever-higher and higher, but they also didn’t hit an initial max as all my blog readers and followers and friends obligingly went out and bought a copy and then plummet afterwards. Instead, I got a sawtooth of good sales periods interrupting the doldrums and a gradual accumulation, ultimately doing nearly twice as well as I thought I was doing. Later, I’ll do an analysis to see if (as expected) the upticks in sales corresponded to when I did author readings or had new ads out.
This is for the first book, _GenderQueer: A Story From a Different Closet_. In the most recent months reported, sales have fallen off as my attention (and blogging and advertising) has mostly focused on the second book. But I’m releasing combo ads that tout the two books as a continuing tale (which is true) so maybe that will fuel another good month or two for the first book.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/2 "2022-05-10T15:35:36Z")
Congratulations. But is it a good idea to post a picture online that has all that personal information on it?
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/3 "2022-05-10T15:41:28Z")
I dunno… I probably don’t worry about that stuff as much as I should.
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/4 "2022-05-10T15:46:34Z")
that is fantastic!
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/5 "2022-05-10T15:48:40Z")
More congratulations.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/6 "2022-05-10T16:10:17Z")
Congrats and please let us know if you want the picture removed.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/7 "2022-05-10T16:15:51Z")
Congratulations!
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/8 "2022-05-10T16:16:52Z")
Congratulations!
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/9 "2022-05-10T16:28:38Z")
Congratulations.
Do we have to refer to you as highness now?
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/10 "2022-05-10T17:32:43Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#):
>
> Do we have to refer to you as highness now?
Until the next royalty check where it is reaffirmed (or not) that they are still royalty.
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### Author:  [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/11 "2022-05-10T17:46:57Z")
Congratulations!
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/12 "2022-05-10T18:16:41Z")
Congrats!
And that’s a cool quilt.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/13 "2022-05-10T18:26:16Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> And that’s a cool quilt.
I have two, one from each grandmother, so yeah, both cool and evocative.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/14 "2022-05-10T18:28:43Z")
Even better.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/15 "2022-05-10T18:56:32Z")
Congratulations! You can now pronounce yourself a published author, a nice little accolade. My only book was published in 1995 and was my publisher’s top seller for that period. The lady I was dating remarked, “I hope we run into my ex husband. I can introduce you as a rocket scientist and best selling author…”
My publisher, Schiffer Publishing, does not remainder their books. If they have one left it is for sale. Twice a year I get a check for like, 79 cents.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/16 "2022-05-10T20:33:36Z")
Congratulations!
Nothing feels quite as good as getting that royalty check – not for the dollars and cents, but because it’s a sort of validation.
I know it’s not a lot, but, heck, I still get royalties from my first book. Even though it was published 22 years ago. When I mentioned this to another author, his response as “It’s still in print?”
May you still be in print, years later.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2022, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/17 "2022-05-11T00:06:49Z")
Congrats, dude!
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### Author:  [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/18 "2022-05-11T01:03:38Z")
Congratulations, that must feel good!
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2022, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/19 "2022-05-11T04:35:15Z")
From another one who has entered the writing and publishing world, congratulations!
I got a report from my printer/distributor that I will be getting !! $49 !! in publisher compensation for the month of April… in ninety days. You have yours now! (modulo cheque clearing time…)
PS: now I want to read your book.
:: Wanders off to Indigo/Amazon/etc ::
And there it is, in Indigo, Canada’s biggest online bookstore!
Much more info on Amazon.ca…
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2022, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-royalty-check/964239/20 "2022-05-11T06:47:55Z")
Bought it, read it, liked it! Good work.
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