Still, this cheered me up: one of the weirder things I get through the post on a regular basis is a massive royalty statement from J. Wiley and Sons Inc.. I should add it’s that the statements that are massive, running to 8 pages of US letter size paper. The royalties most definitely are not. This isn’t due to any stinginess on Wiley’s part, however. It’s simply due to the fact that for the books in question, I was only one of several authors (back in the days before the original publishers, Wrox, went under and were bought out by Wiley), and the books are actually rather old.

For example, consider “Beginning XML, 2nd Edition”, for which I wrote the rather exciting Chapter 9. This is a software book which came out in 2001! Admittedly, my entire earnings due to this book for the six month period amount to all of $1.15 (“subsidiary rights activity”), but someone out there is still shelling out for the thing.

Who are these people, and how can I sell them something else?