tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post3647267695693216426..comments2023-11-02T06:57:11.400-04:00Comments on BookEnds Literary Agency: Contracts 101: AdvanceBookEnds, A Literary Agencyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06287278822065839469noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-8909343415975365652007-08-15T07:13:00.000-04:002007-08-15T07:13:00.000-04:00I have one published non-fiction book, a self-inst...I have one published non-fiction book, a self-instruction manual about software. It sold well enough in its first year to earn the advance and pay a royalty.<BR/><BR/>Is this a good thing to mention in a query letter for a novel, or is it of no relevance?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-76593976045662141242007-08-14T23:52:00.000-04:002007-08-14T23:52:00.000-04:00Thank you for the quick reply!!!It didn't sound ri...Thank you for the quick reply!!!<BR/><BR/>It didn't sound right, but then there's a lot of faulty information out there in cyberspace.Merry Monteleonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09435956005780500310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-7214614087061401932007-08-14T22:08:00.000-04:002007-08-14T22:08:00.000-04:00Well, after reading this... I come back to the sam...Well, after reading this... I come back to the same place as always.<BR/><BR/>DO NOT QUIT YOUR DAY JOB!!!! <BR/><BR/>I recently took a seminar from a mystery writer in the city where I live. She has SEVEN books published in a wonderful series and they are GREAT. She's quite well known in the mystery circle. I asked her during a break if she could support herself on her writing alone and she said No, I still have to sustitute teach to make ends meet. <BR/><BR/>And that's after SEVEN books! SEVEN!!! Published Books!!!!<BR/><BR/>Sigh. Heavy sigh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-89176798366347427072007-08-14T17:00:00.000-04:002007-08-14T17:00:00.000-04:00I'll be doing a follow-up to some of your question...I'll be doing a follow-up to some of your questions. I wanted to answer Merry quickly though. the answer is No.<BR/><BR/>--jhfBookEnds, A Literary Agencyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06287278822065839469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-43317233352789425762007-08-14T14:33:00.000-04:002007-08-14T14:33:00.000-04:00Thanks for covering this topic. While I knew the ...Thanks for covering this topic. While I knew the basics of what an advance is, I've heard some information from a small publisher which sounds inaccurate to me and was wondering if you could clarify:<BR/><BR/>I was told that if the advance is not made back by book sales in the first year, the author would be expected to reimburse the publisher all portions of the advance that were not earned in royalties.<BR/><BR/>Do reputable publishers do this?Merry Monteleonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09435956005780500310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-8916757717704379812007-08-14T12:35:00.000-04:002007-08-14T12:35:00.000-04:00I'm with you Bran Fan and aimless writer! Author....I'm with you Bran Fan and aimless writer! Author...agent...teacher--you've got it going, Jessica! I'm glad I've got a seat in this classroom.<BR/><BR/>ZeeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-26723878423481510812007-08-14T11:41:00.000-04:002007-08-14T11:41:00.000-04:00Jessica, I've heard this description of how the ad...Jessica, I've heard this description of how the advance works on other websites as well, and it seems pretty straight forward to me. However, I'm confused by one thing. Agent blogs say, "Get the highest advance you can!" Publisher blogs say that if you do convince them to give you a larger advance and you don't earn back that advance in the first year (or, worse, ever), then you'll get a much smaller advance on your next book...and that downward spiraling advance payments on subsequent books are a bad sign for your career. Most agents also seem to indicate that you can either increase the advance payment or the royalty percentage, but not really increase both at once.<BR/><BR/>If the above information is correct, then it seems to me that a person should try to increase the royalty percentage as high as you can reasonably go, but leave the advance alone. That way you'll pay off your advance more quickly and make more money off the book overall. Assuming that all went well, I'd think that you could then ask for a higher advance at the same royalty percentage on your next book.<BR/><BR/>Examples:<BR/>If you get a $5,000 advance at 10% royalties on the mass market cover price, then you need to sell about 7,153 books at a $6.99 cover price to earn off your advance. You then make 0.699 cents per each additional sale. If you sell a total of 13,000 books in the first year, then you make $9,087 total in royalties (or $4,087 in addition to the advance).<BR/><BR/>If you get a $7,000 advance at 8% royalties on the mass market cover price, then you need to sell about 12,518 books at a $6.99 cover price to earn off your advance. You then make 0.559 cents per each additional sale. If you sell a total of 13,000 books in the first year, then you make $7,269 total in royalties (or $269 in addition to the advance).<BR/><BR/>Both earn off their advance in the first year, but the first situation looks better to me. So, what am I missing? Why don't agents focus more on the royalty percentage instead of the advance?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-69602994624399417212007-08-14T10:34:00.000-04:002007-08-14T10:34:00.000-04:00Jessica, what sort of leverage do you have in nego...Jessica, what sort of leverage do you have in negotiating the advance? Given how many unknowns there are about the potential success of the book, how do you go about convincing a publisher that an author deserves a 20k advance instead of 10? Curious how this works.<BR/><BR/>JDuncanJDuncanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00487305836910594252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-5198040613861417992007-08-14T09:48:00.000-04:002007-08-14T09:48:00.000-04:00I liked this very much and can't wait to see what ...I liked this very much and can't wait to see what the next installment of "contracts 101" will be! This is the type of post that writers print and save, dontcha know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-83034104222331083452007-08-14T07:24:00.000-04:002007-08-14T07:24:00.000-04:00Thanks for the breakdown! This helps me understan...Thanks for the breakdown! This helps me understand the advance process much better. It's good to know how those partial advances can be divided up.Teresa Harrisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09000600005136863441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-15349360811199618972007-08-14T06:44:00.000-04:002007-08-14T06:44:00.000-04:00Wow, I'm exhausted just reading about this stuff. ...Wow, I'm exhausted just reading about this stuff. I think this all spells out why we desperately need an agent. I wouldn't want to figure this all out by myself.Aimlesswriterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03012050763172251381noreply@blogger.com