Status: PACKING AND MOVING STUFF INTO OUR NEW 10X10.Watching: News.
Listening to: "Caanan"--by Mindless Faith; "Sons of Plunder"; "Land of Confusion"--by Disturbed
Reading: Kushiel's Scion. Page 716.
TOPIC: TANKING DOLLAR AFFECTS OVERSEAS EXCHANGE RATES.
Thanks in part to the foreclosure crisis, the credit crunch, and now the government's insistence that American taxpayers shell out an additional $700B to bail out Wall Street and the failing financial system--the dollar is dropping worse than a teenage girl's skirt at the local prom.
That is having an aggravating affect on overseas exchange rates and it's been making it a challenge for me to pay my editor the money required for The Starchild.
By my estimates, I'm either at the halfway point or I'm nearly done--I've left the final amount up to Linda Culshaw as a courtesy.
We never haggled over what was agreed upon. But this book project of mine is the most important thing to me since Leonardo da Vinci invented the flying machine.
A lot of people don't understand why I would pay an editor to edit this gi-normous novel of mine--because the current thinking says: "Money should flow towards you--not away."
Unfortunately, not many writers these days understand the gravity of their current situation; especially when it involves the traditional book publishing industry.
Last year alone, the industry put out almost 412,000 titles--up nearly 30% from 2006 by my calculations--and that number alone is a cause for worry for first-time authors looking to break into the publishing industry.
With 5 million authors who are serious writers--that gives each first-time author a 12.13% chance to get snagged by a mainstream publisher on the first try.
Or a 1.93 million to 1 shot.
Not very good odds, are they?
No. Not when you have 4,000 publishers in North America alone dealing with over 1.5 billion e-mailed and mailed submissions on a yearly basis alone.
This is what you have to go against as the first-time author. But everyone says that you cannot pay an editor to do the work for you. You have to have a professional mainstream editor do it.
'Lends credibility'--or so I am told.
'Increases my chances of being picked up by one of the big gun publishers'--I keep hearing.
Right.
You just keep telling yourself that.
See, most writers whom dream big dreams end up getting burned in the end by something we call REALITY.
Believe me...I was one of them.
But then I realized that my chances of getting published were planted somewhere next to the temperature of absolute zero (-412F) and as some people know..?
I embarked on my own journey towards getting published.
And have had many setbacks as a result.
Even being homeless, I intend on picking up an auxiliary battery generator this coming month and I'll be using it to power my computer for 2 or 3 hours--so I can finish my books.
However, the continued drop in the dollar has put another possible obstacle on my way to getting the book published.
I kept saying it'll be another 4 years before I can get the book done.
Unfortunately, it may be until either 2013 or 2014 before I can finally bring The Starchild to full circle.
This is affecting me after all--you know. And I suspect that Linda may want me to pay just a little more to make up the difference in the rate exchange. Me paying her $50 a month here doesn't translate automatically to $50 in Aussie currency when she gets it.
I know the amount won't be a whole lot. $100 more tops--if I'm short $3-$5 each transaction.
But--as I may remind everyone reading this--I'm investing money in what I believe will be a modest breadwinner for myself and my wife of 7 years.
Like I've told everyone I know: "I'm not just doing this for myself anymore. I'm also doing this for the woman I love."
So I'm making sure that I have the best product out there and the best book written to my given ability.
Not the mainstream's.
Sky
