Cash Flow, Part 2

Following up on this earlier blog entry of mine about cash flow, I note for the record that I received today my "on publication" portion of the advance for Boarding the Enterprise, the Star Trek essay collection I edited with David Gerrold for BenBella Books. Publication date was August 1, 2006; today was December 27, 2006, which is 147 days, or getting on to five months later.

Publishers big and small (including, I must say, the one that I edit for) have been taking increasingly liberal definitions of "on publication." I'm doing all right, but I know lots of other authors who are really being hurt by this tendency. A word to the wise among beginning writers: don't quit your day job. :)