Mark Leslie's Blog

The other day I cashed yet another check from McGraw-Hill Ryerson for a short story.

The check was for $29.24 - which doesn't seem like a big thing.

However, let's look at the source, and the history for where this payment came from.

A snapshot look at how "Almost" appears in theiLit.ca format

The History of my short story "Almost"

• 1988 - 1989 - Some time between high school and university I was reading Stephen King's Dance Macabre and was fascinated by his mentioning of the classic "tales of the hook" -- it inspired me to write a short story called "Almost" involving many of those elements
• 1989 - 1996 - I submitted "Almost" to three short fiction horror markets. Rejections from all of them.
• 1996 to 2003 - "Almost" remains "in the drawer" as one of those stories I had written but didn't have a home for
•  2004 - I decide to include "Almost" in my self-published collection One Hand Screaming in the "Curt Cries in the Night" section featuring short-shorts (stories approx 1000 words and under) and poetry.
• 2010 - I record a free audio version of "Almost" for Episode 14 of my podcast "Prelude to a Scream"
• 2012 - I reprint "Almost" in the digital chapbook Bumps in the Night. This collection was described as "a collection of four short stories perfect for either sharing around a campfire or reading while on a vacation or sleepover."
• Bumps in the Night was, for the longest time, my most successfully selling digital book
• Dec 18, 2014 - A Permissions Editor from McGraw-Hill contacts me by email requesting the use of "Almost" in the www.ilit.ca digital collection provided a few small editorial changes are made to make the story more palatable for an education audience. I agree.
• Jan 5, 2015 - Paperwork/contract is signed for re-print publication of "Almost" 
• Feb 25, 2015 - Receive editorial notes on revisions to story as well as initial layout proofs.
• Mar 9, 2015 - Receive request to modify a few additional words based on sensitivity issues with the Newfoundland and Labrador ministry of education. Accepted changes.
• Mar 9, 2015 - Receive flat fee payment for "Almost" - $350
• Oct 20, 2015 - Published a free version of "Almost" with an ambient soundtrack on BookTrack
• Oct, 2015 - "Almost" appears in the free Wattpad version of One Hand Screaming. 

Three of the collections that "Almost" has appeared in

Revenues Earned from McGraw-Hill

$350.00 (Flat Fee - "Advance" for story being made available in digital catalog)
$75.00 (Royalty payment for printing of story in custom printed secondary school books)
$88.65 (Royalty payment for printing of story in custom printed secondary school books)
$29.24 (Royalty payment for printing of story in custom printed secondary school books)

Total rec'd so far: $542.89

The story "Almost" is approximately 870 words long. The initial flat fee payment of $350 means that payment for this story was approx $0.40/word. Standard professional rates for fiction run at about $0.05 to $0.06. I have been paid $0.25 when selling non-fiction to magazine markets. So getting $0.40 per word for a short story is quite a spectacular "win" for me.

Not to mention, of course, the fact that I continue to receive royalties each time the story is added to a new teacher's custom-printed collection for a class. Heck, those royalties alone currently mean the story has earned an additional $0.22/word.

In addition, with the recently received check and royalty statement, I can see that the payment is for the reproduction of about 225 copies of the book in which the story appears. Based on those numbers, I can safely assume that more than 1000 students have either read, or had access to read this story in the past couple of years.

Yes, I know that most high school students who encounter a story aren't going to remember it or the author. Even this book nerd balked at some of the texts high school teachers forced me to read. But I also remember, quite fondly, those particular short stories I read in high school that have stuck with me all these years later. So there is always a slim chance that, among the students encountering this story, that some might be intrigued enough to read some of my other work.

The total money received for this story doesn't include the funds received from having "Almost" published in One Hand Screaming nor having included in Bumps in the Night, nor its availability in the BundleRabbit's The Crimes, Capers and Rule-Breakers Bundle.

But, just to do some minimal math on that, Bumps in the Night sells for $2.99 of which I keep 70% which comes to about $2.09; since the collection has four stories in it, it means that every time that collection has sold ths share for "Almost" is about $0.52), and I can safely say that I have sold more than 1000 copies of Bumps in the Night.

Bumps in the Night revenues earned since 2012:  Approx $2,090. The "cut" for Almost = $522.50

So, even without adding in the cut from One Hand Screaming (the revenues on this go back to 2004 - I haven't always been good at tracking the income on print and ebook for this one) or the other places "Almost" has been included, such as the Crimes, Capers and Rule-Breakers Bundle, I can safely say that this story has earned me more than $1000.00 in revenue. That comes to about $1.15/word so far. And the earnings continue to tick along.

Not bad for a short story that I initially hadn't sold to a short fiction market (and for which a professional short story sale would have been about $43.50)

Interesting end note. I still have no idea how the "right person" at McGraw came to discover my short story "Almost" and thus want to acquire rights to it for the high school literary catalog, but I have to believe that it might have something to do with the story being so broadly available and accessible.




Various Links to Almost:

• Listen to "Almost" in my old Prelude to a Scream Podcast Episode 14.  (Free)
• Read "Almost" on BookTrack (Soundtracks for Books) complete with an atmospheric sound-track (Free)
• Read "Almost" on Wattpad. (Free)
• Buy One Hand Screaming (includes "Almost" and 15 other short stories and a handful of poems) at your favorite online eRetailer (available in ebook and print)
• Buy Bumps in the Night (includes "Almost" and 3 other short tales perfect for "around the campfire" reading) at your favourite ebook retailer (ebook format only)
• Buy The Crimes, Capers & Rule-Breakers Bundle (includes "Almost" and 19 other stories from great authors) from BundleRabbit or your favorite online eRetailer

Chele Cooke, the brilliant sci-fi and fantasy author of such books as Dead and Buryd and Fight or Flight in the "Out of Orbit" series, recently followed this meme talking about her serialized novel that she's releasing on Wattpad called Teeth. (Check out Chele's blog post in this meme)

Chele tagged me in her meme, suggesting I talk about my novel I, Death (coming in print and eBook in October, but I am releasing it in serialized fashion on Wattpad throughout the summer) 

[A warning that I, Death contains graphic horror and depictions of adult sexual situations - this is definitely not a story for those easily offended]

1. When and where is the story set?

The story opens in the small mid-Northern town of Levack as well as the nearby city of Sudbury, in Ontario, Canada. The characters migrate four hours south to the city of Toronto towards the end of the book.

While not necessarily a part of the setting, the first 70% of the novel is written on a blog by the main character and that part of the story is told entirely from his POV along with interjections from others in the blogging community. (But I often do think that part of the "setting" has to do with the online tools by which Peter is sharing his story)

2. What can you say about the main characters?

Peter O'Mallick, the novel's main character, is an angst-filled seventeen year old who has just been dumped by his longtime girlfriend Sarah. He begins blogging about the turmoil faced with losing her while also dealing with the belief that he was born with some terrible death curse that has resulted in so many of his friends dying or suffering horrible fates.

One of the supporting characters, a supply teacher by the name of Mr. Robertson (called "Robbie" by his students), was one of my favourite characters to write, as he became a composite of every single amazing teacher I'd every had, as well as some traits that I liberated from the character of John Keating played by Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poets Society.

The "bad guy" is a drug lord by the name of Bryan Brecht, who discovers Peter's blog, understands that the kid isn't just paranoid, but actually has some sort of death curse, and seeks to find a way to use the kid's power to further rise in the ranks of becoming a kingpin of the drug world.

3. What is the main conflict?

There are two main conflicts in the novel -

The main underlying conflict is internal and has to do with Peter's sense of loss and grief and frustration with the death curse that he believes is responsible for losing everyone from his parents and best friends to the loss of his girlfriend Sarah (who is very much alive, but who has cut herself off from his life). I tried to adapt the universal angst and frustration that are felt during the teenage years related to acceptance, friendship, love and loss with the additional element of a dark undertone of death. Dealing with his own feelings and his reaction to the terrors that surround him are a good part of the conflict Peter faces. Throughout the loss and destruction of his world, his desire to reunite with Sarah remains a constant thread. But he knows he can't be close to her or else she, too might succumb to the curse.

The second conflict, the main external one is related to Brecht's desire to infiltrate and manipulate Peter in order to use him and his death curse for the benefit of his position in the drug world. He plays upon Peter's continued loss of a fatherly and supportive figure and his desire to have a strong and important mentor.

The Infectious Phase

I'm nominating the following writers (all peeps with serialized books on Wattpad that you can and SHOULD check out) to continue this meme . . .

1) Edward Willett, author of Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star

2)  Robert S. Wilson, author of Shining in Crimson

3) Meredith Rose, author of Chains of Silver

My novella thriller EVASION has been continuing to receive positive feedback since it was featured on Wattpad in late May for a day.  It now has almost 82,000 reads, almost 1200 votes from readers and a demand to read the next book in the series.

I suppose this means that, for NaNoWriMo 2014, I'll have to write the sequel.....

If you're interested in reading it, there are currently 3 different ways you can read it for free.

FIRST WAY TO GET IT FREE (eBook)

•  Wattpad - you can read 100% of the book, 100% of the time, for free on Wattpad.  You can read it online or download the mobile Wattpad app.  All free.

SECOND WAY TO GET IT FREE (eBook)

• DIGITAL BOOK DAY - Monday July 14th will be Digital Book Day - produced by the wonderful "thrillers with heart" author CJ Lyons, it includes a giveaway of digital books in multiple genres from authors from around the world.  Please note that the links on this site will only be live for Monday July 14, 2014, so this is a limited time offer.

Digital Book Day

 THIRD WAY TO GET IT FREE (Print Book)

• Goodreads Giveaway - 10 copies of the print book (which retails for $14.95 US) will be available through this Goodreads promotion. It's a random draw from all entrants, but 10 chances to win! (The chance to enter, closes July 30, 2014) :)

If you do read it, I would greatly appreciate you reviewing the book on your favourite online review spot (most commonly, folks post reviews to Goodreads and Amazon)

I'm rather excited that my novel EVASION is being featured on Wattpad.

There's nowhere to hide when everybody you know is trying to kill you. Scotty Desmond's day begins like any other until his boss calls him into the office, pulls out a gun and start shooting at him. Scott manages to escape the surprise assassination attempt, but everyone else he meets, colleagues, friends and strangers are all similarly obsessed with killing him. Will Scott survive long enough to understand what is behind the relentless attacks and how it might relate to the investigation into his father's mysterious death?

The story was inspired by something that kept happening to me in the first couple of years after my father died. I kept seeing him everywhere. When you lose someone you love, there's always that little part of you that sees them everywhere and in everything. The mind does that to you.

But I started to imagine (speculate, if you will), a possibility where the things I had been seeing hadn't been my mind playing tricks on me, but that my father was actually alive.

I kicked the concept around and made a few attempts to write the story.

But, shortly before NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2013, I started jotting down some notes and outlining the characters and plot that went along with this premise. And I wrote it during November.

The daily word count for Evasion during NaNoWriMo

And Evasion was born.

The book is set mostly in Toronto and Sudbury and opens in the thinly masked building that is Kobo's head office in Liberty Village. It's a fast paced action thriller written in the style of the movie Die Hard -- ie, some crazy shit goes down and the hero has to think on their feet in order to stay alive.  Of course, readers have already commented that the opening reminds them of Joseph R. Garber's Vertical Run. It might also conjure up thoughts of Duane Swiercynzski's Severance Package. I adored both of those novels and watch Die Hard every Christmas, and I wrote this novel to satisfy my own thirst for that type of tale, so I suppose anybody who has enjoyed either of those three might also get a kick out of Evasion.

I had fun playing with the premise -- and not just the action, but the father/son relationship: The novel includes a number of flashbacks into Scott's childhood and memories of his father.

I wrote the first draft for Evasion in November 2013. I let it sit, then did a re-write of it and recently sent it off for an edit.


The book is being featured this week at Wattpad, which is a social platform to connect writers and readers, filled with stories you can read for free online or via apps for your smart-phone or tablet.

I'll be releasing Evasion as an eBook for $4.99 this summer.  The pre-order is currently available at Kobo. It'll be added to the other places shortly.