The never earning an advance myth needs to die. I've earned all my advances so far except two (my eleventh novel is out this year). One took seven years to earn out while for others they earned out by the second statement. It's very different having an advance of $5,000 than getting $500,000. Odds are you'll see royalties much faster when there's a low advance but as you mention, if you are lucky enough to make $500,000 that's not chump change and even if your book only makes you $250,000 in royalties that means the publisher took a gamble and overpaid you. Or not. Many things happen during the lifetime of a book. We're rejacketing one of my novels (a steady, respectable seller that nevertheless is not my most famous or profitable title) for sale next year because trends have changed and it might have a second life with a different cover.
I'm a lonely voice in the wind on this topic, but the whole mindset of "get the biggest advance you can, don't worry if the publisher is overpaying you, you'll never have to pay it back" is really IMO destructive to the larger project of building a truly sustainable publishing ecosystem. Every book that doesn't earn out its advance makes a publisher less willing to take a risk on the next project. It drives complacency and a herd mentality at the P&L level. Smaller advances, aka "bad advances," which offer a guaranteed annual (or biannual) payment to authors on the back end, help build more diverse and risk-friendly publishing. Like, no other industry works like this! To use the candy example: why would you expect a buyer (publisher) to pay $500,000 up front if the seller (author) was only able to deliver $250,000 worth of candy? Would you ever buy that candy again? Probably not. Lower expectations on the sales end set so many more people up for success.
You're right, but since authors have so little on their side to begin with, I don't blame anyone for taking the money and running. If publishing actually made sure every book got proper publicity and marketing and didn't throw huge money at a few titles while leaving the rest to sink or swim, it would be a different story (pun intended).
I know. I know. But the reason they throw big money at huge titles is for the exact reason outlined above. They need blockbusters to keep the whole bad cycle going.
Thanks Lincoln. I understand, remarkably, the author gets paid by his agent. I say remarkably because that's a lot of money flowing thru a small entity. Are you able to confirm numbers through the publisher? Also congrats on the book and the fine reviews.
Yes what Silvia said: most big publishers have a weekly updated online system (and if your agency thought something shady was going on they could audit or compare to BookScan). But yeah, book sales are opaque and there's no simple way to prove sales. BookScan is the only real tracking system.
I'm with Penguin Random House for most of my books and we have a portal for authors where I can see statements and copies sold in real time, etc. For smaller publishers, you can always ask to also get statements. And you can, if you pay for it, get access to Bookscan which shows approximate sales. So no, you don't have to just go by the word of your agent but 99 percent of the time they'll just forward you the statements and there's no need for more detective work unless you suspect something is seriously wrong.
Thanks. Just seems complicated. The bookseller pays the distributor. Then they pay the publisher, then they pay the agent, then they pay the writer. That's a lot of thens : )
I don't disagree. (I kinda thought publishers should have taken the digital transition to open their own direct e-stores to compete with Amazon and cut out distributors, but I've never worked on the publishing side...)
FWIW even the more direct self-publishing to Amazon Kindle store is still opaque about sales. There's no way to prove Amazon is accurately telling you how many digital files it sold or what percentage of a Kindle Unlimited pool you're due.
Great summary. Thanks. I honestly never completely understood my royalty statements and didn't bother to put in the time bc we rcvd one of the those advances that we'll never earn out. (the "good" kind)
Love this! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking. Dm me if interested in a recommendation swap — we’re growing fast!
The never earning an advance myth needs to die. I've earned all my advances so far except two (my eleventh novel is out this year). One took seven years to earn out while for others they earned out by the second statement. It's very different having an advance of $5,000 than getting $500,000. Odds are you'll see royalties much faster when there's a low advance but as you mention, if you are lucky enough to make $500,000 that's not chump change and even if your book only makes you $250,000 in royalties that means the publisher took a gamble and overpaid you. Or not. Many things happen during the lifetime of a book. We're rejacketing one of my novels (a steady, respectable seller that nevertheless is not my most famous or profitable title) for sale next year because trends have changed and it might have a second life with a different cover.
I'm a lonely voice in the wind on this topic, but the whole mindset of "get the biggest advance you can, don't worry if the publisher is overpaying you, you'll never have to pay it back" is really IMO destructive to the larger project of building a truly sustainable publishing ecosystem. Every book that doesn't earn out its advance makes a publisher less willing to take a risk on the next project. It drives complacency and a herd mentality at the P&L level. Smaller advances, aka "bad advances," which offer a guaranteed annual (or biannual) payment to authors on the back end, help build more diverse and risk-friendly publishing. Like, no other industry works like this! To use the candy example: why would you expect a buyer (publisher) to pay $500,000 up front if the seller (author) was only able to deliver $250,000 worth of candy? Would you ever buy that candy again? Probably not. Lower expectations on the sales end set so many more people up for success.
Anyway, just the POV of a publisher :)
You're right, but since authors have so little on their side to begin with, I don't blame anyone for taking the money and running. If publishing actually made sure every book got proper publicity and marketing and didn't throw huge money at a few titles while leaving the rest to sink or swim, it would be a different story (pun intended).
I know. I know. But the reason they throw big money at huge titles is for the exact reason outlined above. They need blockbusters to keep the whole bad cycle going.
I love my royalties. Thanks for this!
Do authors make money from libraries? If I read mostly library books, does that benefit an author at all?
Yes! I think in my sample they'd go under "export/special" but yes library sales can be a big part of a book's sales
Thanks a bazillion! This is an excellent heads up—I’m getting published next month 😮
The clearest explanation I've yet seen -- many thanks!
Thank you!
Thanks Lincoln. I understand, remarkably, the author gets paid by his agent. I say remarkably because that's a lot of money flowing thru a small entity. Are you able to confirm numbers through the publisher? Also congrats on the book and the fine reviews.
Yes what Silvia said: most big publishers have a weekly updated online system (and if your agency thought something shady was going on they could audit or compare to BookScan). But yeah, book sales are opaque and there's no simple way to prove sales. BookScan is the only real tracking system.
I'm with Penguin Random House for most of my books and we have a portal for authors where I can see statements and copies sold in real time, etc. For smaller publishers, you can always ask to also get statements. And you can, if you pay for it, get access to Bookscan which shows approximate sales. So no, you don't have to just go by the word of your agent but 99 percent of the time they'll just forward you the statements and there's no need for more detective work unless you suspect something is seriously wrong.
Thanks. Just seems complicated. The bookseller pays the distributor. Then they pay the publisher, then they pay the agent, then they pay the writer. That's a lot of thens : )
I don't disagree. (I kinda thought publishers should have taken the digital transition to open their own direct e-stores to compete with Amazon and cut out distributors, but I've never worked on the publishing side...)
FWIW even the more direct self-publishing to Amazon Kindle store is still opaque about sales. There's no way to prove Amazon is accurately telling you how many digital files it sold or what percentage of a Kindle Unlimited pool you're due.
Great summary. Thanks. I honestly never completely understood my royalty statements and didn't bother to put in the time bc we rcvd one of the those advances that we'll never earn out. (the "good" kind)
Very useful post. Thank you!
Love this! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking. Dm me if interested in a recommendation swap — we’re growing fast!
check us out:
https://thesecretingredient.substack.com