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Thanks to Lauren Barnholt for linking to this post on John Green's blog about author advances. This is a question I get asked just about everywhere I speak - even high school kids care more about HOW an author gets paid than HOW much, which I've always found sort of fascinating.

Had a great chat with my agent this morning (which is typical - George is always making me laugh, recommending obscure films he thinks I'll enjoy, or telling me about articles he's read recently that he wants me to check out, too). One thing that boggled my mind was what he said about how different BEA was from years past. I haven't exactly been vigilant about keepin up with the blogosphere, but he mentioned how some publishers, instead of distributing galleys, were offering stick drives with up to seven books on them in PDF form. My first thought was that this is brilliant in terms of controlling cost. My second was, "Oh, god - how are they going to be able to protect the manuscripts from being passed around the Internet?" This is something we authors haven't really had to deal with on a large level, besides the Google Books fiasco and the difficulty controlling the distribution of audiobooks through the same sites where people illegally download mp3, games, and programs.

I think we're only really starting to get an understanding of how the recession will effect the book biz. Harold Underdown's article, "Working in Children's Books and the Recession of 2008-09" really hit me hard yesterday, because even it ends on a hopeful note, it wasn't until I saw the "who's moving where" link that I realized how bad things are for the publishers. I mean, in a lot of cases, you often feel like you're outside the publisher, because no matter how much you love your editor or house, there's still that slight tinge of bitterness that everyone else makes a comfortable living off your books except you (unless you're a superstar, or crazy prolific (I'm looking at you, Elizabeth Scott!), in which case, this may not apply).

[Tangent: in his article, Harold recommends reading Leonard Marcus's MINDERS OF MAKE-BELIEVE, about the history of children's book publishing, which I second. George sent it to me to read while I was recovering from surgery, and it's amazing. This is definitely a case of not judging a book by its less-than-fantastic cover.]

Back to the galley-on-stick-drive thing: one thing George mentioned that never crossed my mind is how this system of distributing paperless books pre-pub is going to have a profound effect on librarians. Thoughts on this, librarians?

Last, George made a point about teling me that I needed to read Elizabeth Bluemle's recent PW blog about the do's and don'ts of promotional e-mailing. One thing I want to add to her incredibly informative list is that when you're sending promotional emails to fellow authors, make sure that they either A) asked to be on your mailing list or B) have the option of unsubscribing without having to tell you WHY you're unsubscribing. I recently got an email blast from someone I can't even remember ever meeting, who doesn't write in my genre, and who sends out blasts every two to three weeks. I responded to one "Unsubscribe," thinking that was enough, but no, she demanded to know my name and the reason why. She had my e-mail address, obviously, so why pressure me into telling her that I think her books sound lame and that I'm not interested in learning that she had a mini-interview in her small-town's coupon clipper (okay, that last part is totally made up).

I'm even more excited to get this advice from a bookseller's perspective, as I'm in the final stages of my PR prep for THE SWEET LIFE OF STELLA MADISON, which is out in just over two weeks. Also coming soon is the long-promised website overhaul I'm working on with Little Willow - the delays in merging Lola's site with Lara's have been entirely mine, as I always have about 50 things going on at the same time. She's been so patient with me, though, and a total sweetheart - I definitely recommend her work to any of you soon-to-be first-time authors seeking a web designer who does good, clean work and makes it fun at the same time.

Tomorrow: a post I keep delaying about changes in the laws regarding repayment of student loans (it's all good news, so yay!).

Lately I've been avoiding my computer, and here's why:

I hate the Internet.

Sure, it's useful for finding recipes and looking up caterers for the wedding. And I'm a big fan of online shopping, especially when I know exactly what I want but am certain I'd have to go to four or five actual stores to find it.

But.

Last night I had 97 unanswered e-mails on my main account. I spent 2.5 hours trying to clear some of it out, and when I gave up, I still had 73. There are people who sent me e-mail in September who still haven't received a response. It's overwhelming, is what it is.

Then there's Facebook, which is super fun but also kind of overwhelming. Every day I log on to find that I've been invited to join 10 new groups, or that someone's thrown a snowball at me, or that someone else wants me to take a "Which '80s Sitcom Character Are You?" quiz. I feel bad constantly pressing "ignore," but I don't have five hours to spend on Facebook each day.

I also Twitter, or should I say that I used to Twitter? Twitter was fun for about 10 minutes before I ended up having too many Twitter friends and couldn't keep up with the constant updates. I stopped checking in about two months ago. If it wasn't the top right speed dial slot on my Opera browser, I think I'd have forgotten about my account all together now.

Next, there's MySpace. I cannot stand MySpace and only created a page because A) it seemed like this thing authors were supposed to do and B) when Joe and I first started dating, he had one and I couldn't read his until I became a member. But now MySpace is all de rigeur, and Joe is my fiance and I no longer need access to his MySpace page, because I get the real thing every night.

Oh, and then there's my actual web site, which in this age of Facebook and blogging seems even more de rigeur than MySpace. But it's a useful repository for things like teacher guides and reading group discussion questions, so that has to stay. It's also in desperate need of updating, streamlining, and redesigning, but even though I have the supertalented Little Willow to work with, she can't do much of anything until I get my crap together and tell her what I'd like done.

Finally, there's LiveJournal. LiveJournal, my companion since 2001 and my favorite of all the online social networking sites, or whatever politically correct term they're referred to these days. I actually adore LiveJournal, but with all of the other web stuffs I find myself sucked into, I barely have time to write my own posts, let alone read those written by my friends. And I miss that. I miss checking in daily and catching up on everyone's lives, and leaving cutesy comments and the like. It's the one online outlet that I wish I spent more time on.

So, last night, when I was trying to clear out the bajillion e-mails that have piled up across my five very distinctive accounts, I decided it was time to trim the electronic fat, so to speak. Last night I changed my Twitter update to read that I was saying buh-bye to the site, and about 10 minutes ago, I deleted my account entirely. Next to go: MySpace. Not only do I abhore MySpace, but the new blog editor doesn't even work correctly and I have to hand input all of the returns in code. Ugh, it's so annoying. So, I think I'll send an announcement out explaining WHY I'm ditching the site, and then delete my account come Monday.

Facebook stays, but if you leave me messages on my Wall and it takes me a couple of days to respond, please don't be offended. LiveJournal isn't going anywhere, because like I said, it's the one site I truly adore. And the static web site ... well, I'll get to it eventually. Hopefully within the next three months, as it doesn't currently contain any information about THE SWEET LIFE OF STELLA MADISON, and the book comes out in July.

As for the e-mail ... I'll get to all of them, too, eventually. Even Lola's. I apologize for being so bad at answering messages in a timely fashion. And again - please don't take it personally. My e-mail gets answered in triage format, and if it's not Important/Urgent, it tends to sit a while as I try to carve out enough extra hours to clear out my correspondence. Plus, it often reminds me of the futility of making the bed: people seem to respond to my responses very quickly, so my inbox fills up just as quickly as I empty it. In the end, I'm treading water, instead of crossing the river. (Okay, that was too many metaphors for one paragraph, even for me.)

I need to write more BOOKS. I don't know how other people do it. There are plenty of authors who blog daily and read everyone else's blogs daily and keep up with Twitter and Facebook and read hundreds of books and watch dozens of TV shows and knit huge blankets and run marathons and STILL produce great quality novels on a regular basis. Oh, and they're often married with children. Seriously, bitches, HOW DO YOU DO IT ALL? Do you, like, never sleep? Are you stealing your kids' ADD meds? What? What is the secret to your successes? When Joe and I talk about having kids, I become terrified, because as much as I would like to have a little baby, I don't know how I will adjust to being responsible for another little person. Especially when I have trouble keeping up with my own schedule and obligations.

To end on a happy note: wedding planning is progressing, finally. I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Happy Thursday!