Where My Royalties Go

My husband likes to tell people I'm his 401K plan. In his mind I will one day have a book (or two or three) on the New York Times best sellers list, a screenplay in the theaters and royalties rolling in faster than we can spend them. Yes, he does live in a dream world. That's okay, I let him. Why spoil his fun? The truth is I didn't get into writing, nor do I currently write, to make money. The royalties are nice and certainly help. However, my goal to become a published author was never about how much money I could make in doing so. I write because I enjoy sharing the craziness in my imagination with others. The voices in my head truly do make me write their stories.

Now, that being said, I do still enjoy receiving royalties for my published work and don't appreciate online pirates who choose to share that work without my permission. I also enjoy creating free stories that I share with readers in various spots around the web. One such place is a new blogging venture I've joined in with other published romance authors, known as the Truly, Madly, Deeply Romance blog. My contribution, a short story titled Into the Ocean, will be available on Saturday, March 19th. Readers who leave a comment will also have the chance to win a prize from me. And this is where my royalties come into play. I LOVE giving away prizes to readers. I honestly, truly do. However, I have to be realistic about my budget and can't give away as much as I would like. Therefore, I limit myself to spending ONLY royalties on reader prizes. So, if I sell a ton of books one month the prizes get better and there are more of them.

March is looking like a great month for my readers. I'll be adding to my prize pack pickings and hopping onto a couple of blogs as a guest. Each time I make an appearance around the web I plan to give away a prize. Also, I plan to do my Birthday Blog tour again this year in June (my birthday month). Hopefully it will be as much fun as last year's turned out to be. So, are there any prize ideas you've received or seen from other authors that you would like to suggest? I'm taking notes and adding to the pile.