Mills & Boon Author Celebrates 101st Birthday with 130th Book
Happy birthday to author Jean MacLeod. And thumbs-up to the UK’s Daily Mail for this remarkably condescension-free article.
Ms. McLeod, who’s been writing for the publisher since 1938, says she “sent off a few ideas to Mills & Boon and they liked them and that has pretty much kept me busy for the past 70 years.”
And then there’s this: “Money was not a motivation for writing – we were only paid on a royalty basis. Even now I still pick up around £68 a year in royalties, but the joy of knowing people were, and still are, enjoying my books is payment enough.”
Is somebody taking advantage of an old lady?
-Sandy AAR
Hey, Donna, I bet she’s just talking reprints now. But she says back in the old days that royalties was all she got. She’s got a great spirit and that’s what I most enjoyed about the article.
Hey, Sandy, she did say royalties, not *advances* against royalties! The cheques come separately, and there’s a big difference in writer-speak; LOL. I could tell you tales from my Regency writing days, though, about Royalty ‘cheques’, or rather, statements.
However, I suppose what I’m really wondering is, does that mean she isn’t, perhaps, writing actively now, and just is getting royalty cheques from reprints? Is the 130th book a reprint, or a one-of?
I suppose I should go read the article, eh? Going now to do just that!
Interesting! I hope I’m still writing when I’m 101, in what sometimes feels like a couple of days.