Jules Jones

Received my contract renewal notice from Loose Id for Promises to Keep this morning. That means it's been out for nearly two years now -- it was published on 19 October 2004, as part of their Halloween collection. It's a longish short story, 5000 words, sold as a Fling (Loose Id's line of short, cheap ebooks). In the year and ten months it's been out, it's sold 549 copies, and it continues to sell around 10 to 20 copies a month. If I've got my numbers right, that means it's earned me some $380 in royalties so far. So it's had a much smaller audience than if I'd managed to sell it to the anthology I originally wrote it for, but I've had a lot more money back from it than I would have had from the anthology payment. 7.5c/word, so far, and those of you who know about SFWA will understand why this pleases me. It's picked up some very nice reviews from the romance review sites, and resulted in some fan mail. I definitely feel... satisfied with the way this one has gone.

Yes, I'd like that contract with a New York publisher, and I'd like to be earning enough money from this writing lark to make a living at it. But there's a nice glow of accomplishment at what I've achieved in the small press.