So a month ago or so, I asked for opinions on whether I should focus more on handbell music or on entering contests. The consensus was that there was no consensus, and so I followed that non-advice by both working on a Taize-esque handbell piece and a couple of hymn contests. Part of my concern of going "too handbell" was that I didn't have the remotest notion of how much money I was going to be making from the three works I now have (non-self-) published.
I still don't know for sure how much I'll make -- that depends on the sales, of course -- but I have a bit of a better idea now. The much, much bigger of the two companies, the one that's doing "Balm" and "Cumulo" (I'm leaving off the actual company name because I'm not sure how proprietary this information is), does initial printings of either 1000 or 1500 of every handbell piece, depending on how well they expect it to sell. Assuming, probably correctly, that both of mine have a 1000-copy run, if both of them sell out their "first edition" (and of course the publisher expects them to, or else they wouldn't have printed them), I will make $400 from "Balm" and $500 from "Cumulo." I must admit that I like these odds better than, say, the chance of winning a $1000 contest that 170 people enter, so I think for the short-to-medium term, I'll be focusing on handbell music.
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
