Camille, Gail, and “Tales from the Slush Pile” have gotten me to thinking:

When kids ask how much money an author makes, how much is their question about arriving at a specific figure, how much is it about determining whether writing would be a realistic way for them to make a living, and how much is it about just figuring out where in the financial hierarchy of public figures a children’s author ranks?

If it’s mostly the latter, wouldn’t the right answer be, “Less than anyone else you’ve ever heard of”?