Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, Calif.
First Published: February 9, 2009
This week, I’m going to revisit some “oldies but goodies” here on the blog. I decided to start first with money and answer the question, what kind of advance can I expect.
Wouldn’t it be nice if I could make this simple and just name a number? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. The question of advances must be taken on a case-by-case basis because there are four variables: the author, the publishing house, the project and the agent.
The author— If you are perceived to be an A-list author, you bring a lot more to the house than just earned-out advances. Many houses are willing to pay more than the sales projections dictate– more than what they think a book will earn out–for the opportunity to publish you (stature), to try to provide a forever-home to you (future earnings) and to forge a link with your readership (enlarge their following).
If you are a solid writer, a solid earner, a publishing house may offer you a bigger advance to lure you away from your current house (paying for the upheaval, so to speak). Or if you stay at your present house, a good, stable house may look at your earnings over time and decide to reward you with a bigger advance as a way of letting you know you are valued and to encourage you to stay with them.
If you are a developing writer, beware of big advances. You need to establish a track record. You can’t afford a failure early in your career. The hardest thing to overcome in publishing is a bad numbers-to-advance ratio. Every time an agent goes out to sell you, he has to try to explain away those numbers without giving proprietary information about your former publisher and without appearing to trash anyone’s marketing efforts.
If you are an author with a history of regrettable numbers (for whatever reason) you need to be flexible about any advance. You have a career that needs rebuilding. The best case scenario would be to take a break-out book (like we can predict this) to a solid house regardless of the advance. We have some bold editors out there who recognize great writing and are sometimes willing to put everything on the line. Make it easier for them to do this by being flexible about your advance. I plan to talk more about redeeming a less-than-stellar track record on Thursday.
Or, if you are a one-book-only author, like someone who is selling his own life story, you don’t need to worry about a career arc. You can go for broke.
And there is the author with money problems, who may be willing to sacrifice a long-term career for a large infusion of cash.
The House— Each publishing house has its own advance philosophy. Some good publishers are pretty inflexible about advances. They know how to build careers, but they almost have a set payment structure for their category books that they apply across the board. The nice thing is that most advances earn out, and many do phenomenally well. These publishers understand their business model. Other houses pay high advances regularly, which never come close to earning out. Who knows how they answer to their management or board of directors, but that scenario can be a fiasco for the authors. Your numbers at those houses will look atrocious. Most solid houses will work hard to offer an advance that reflects reality.
The Project— This is the hardest element for us to evaluate. It might be easier in nonfiction. But if you have a book that everyone agrees is a stunner, that becomes a consideration. Your agent may spot it. If you are not settled at one publishing home, and your agent is shopping it around, you’ll get multiple offers and that will be a first indication. You can’t go by what your mother, friends or spouse thinks.
The agent— Many agents believe it’s important to get as much money up front as you can, regardless of the probability of earning out. These might be agents who work with you on a project-by-project basis or who are not expecting to work with you for your whole career. (Bad scenario.)
You may have an agent who is working on a career plan with you. Your agent sees each contract as a potential career builder or career breaker. He will chew over each step, worrying about how it will affect your whole career. He may encourage you to seek a smaller advance if it brings about some other objective.
Then there is the agent you need to avoid who has his own money problems and needs to make as much money in the short term as possible. He will push for as much as the market will bear regardless of who the publisher is or the potential of earning out. He knows he can always replace the current client with a fresh client—they’re lined up waiting.
There’s so much more. That’s why agents and editors spend so much time praying over these things and working out potential scenarios. The variables are almost endless. Just remember, there are consequences to every decision you make. My job, as an agent, is to try to mentally play out those consequences in advance and make a wise decision based on the goals of the client, the strength of the project, the quality of the house, etc.
Tune in tomorrow. I’m going to talk more about numbers and what constitutes a successful book.
I look forward to your comments. Does it all sound unfair? Frustrating? Do you hate it when anyone refers to A-list writers (because you suspect that means there is a B-list and a C-list–and you fear you’re on the D-list)? Let’s talk.
Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
Thanks for the frank discussion. Does this apply to CBA children’s fiction, too? It’s actually encouraging to know that an agent or editor will look at an author’s publishing house’s track record of advance amounts against whether the author earns out. So a small advance from a house that understands its business model is actually a good thing (if the author earns out). And if the title is actually reprinted after an initial very modest run (does that equal regrettable numbers for whatever reason?), that’s good, too? Let’s just say I’m asking for my, um, friend. 🙂
Great post. I mean, it sounds logical to me. New writer=lower advance.
I’ve always come from the viewpoint that you have to earn your worth. I have a day job, and I didn’t start out as a top sales earner on my first day, nor did I expect to be treated like one.
Sure, I knew that over time I would work hard, be loyal to my company, and that should the good Lord allow, I would be sucessful.
To me, it’s the same in the writing biz. Start out small and work your way up the ranks.
I’ll be back to see what others have to say, I’m interested.
Stephanie,
Tell your friend 😉 that a publisher usually prints what he hopes to sell in a year. If you go to a second printing within a few months it usually means you surprised your publisher with better sales than they predicted. Caveat: with the new short run publishing capabilities and just-in-time inventory this may not be as accurate as it once was, but it’s a good rule of thumb.
And children’s novels work much the same way. One of the differences is that often a good children’s series grows more slowly but continues on much longer because there are always a fresh crop of readers.
Thank you, Wendy! I’ll let my friend know. 😉
Thank you for this helpful info, Wendy. And I love it that we’ve met. This way I could hear your voice as I read your wise comments. God bless you–and your important work.
This is fascinating, Wendy. There are so many factors that go into contracting a book. I can’t imagine not going into negotiations without an agent.
I am a newspaper stringer which means I do not get paid until my piece gets published. The “pay in advance” is new to me. Do all publishing houses offer advances? Can the writer contract for a lower advance to help secure a deal with a publisher? Does this make the writer look cheap and desperate, or does it help lessen the risk a publisher has with taking on a new writer?
I can’t see anyone going through the publishing waters without an agent these days. Deciphering what is best for your career is tough. And then there’s the aspect of “I just want to sell my book!” It’s good to see the layers to this.
I know you are just getting started on these posts,(which have been fabulous!) but sometime in the future can one of you post about how best to approach the whole process? Which comes first–the sale or the agent? How do you approach career development when you are just getting started?
Marci, for the most part yes, all houses* offer advances. An advance is just an advance payment on the royalties that will be coming to you. It began because writers needed something to live on while writing the book so they received an advance payment.
I talked about the level of advances so writers could understand what goes into making a successful project, but it doesn’t mean that we’re saying writer’s should accept a smaller advance in order to somehow entice a publisher into considering them. A publishing house is not looking for bargains, they are looking for the next bestseller.
As agents we want to get the most money we can get for our clients while still ensuring the project will be a success. We want that win-win!
*There are a few houses who’ve tried to institute a no-advance policy but we’ve found that if the publisher is not invested in the project, it’s counterproductive.
Crystal, so good to see you here. Yes, we’ll put those topics in the hopper for the future.
Thanks Wendy, that totally answered some of my questions!
Wendy, you’ve addressed a much-documented subject, yet have added something different! I had never heard the angle concerning failure early in your career, but it makes sense. I was of the mindset of getting as big an advance as possible.
One thing I’ve read conflicting accounts on from respected industry professionals is the notion that the size of the advance has a direct correlation to the publishing house’s level of marketing effort. Can you comment on that?
Do you know of publishers that would direct that amount of an advance toward marketing instead of calling it an advance? Is that happening these days? I think I’d be happy to collect royalties as I earned them rather than in advance, if I knew there would be a significant investment in marketing. Does it happen much?
The way you distinguished how levels of authors affect advances seems quite logical. While a larger advance in the beginning sounds lovely, I’d much rather work towards steady payments over a long-lasting career.
I’ll echo some of the comments here and say that I’d greatly prefer to have the help of an honest and helpful agent than try to navigate this complexity alone.
Thanks for reposting this clarifying information, Wendy.
Lance, there is no way to really know because all the statistics to prove it one way or another are proprietary. But if you were an editor who stuck his neck way out there to get a huge advance for a book you really believe in, wouldn’t you fight for every possible marketing dollar you could scape up?
And Bill, there are many houses talking about doing some innovative things with regard to shared risk. But this is something you need to talk over with your agent– lots of angles. We usually want to make sure there’s enough of advance to insure commitment.
Great post, Wendy. I’m sending all my authors here! Just hope they know I’m agent #2 in your agent scenarios. 🙂
Wendy, I read this when originally posted but am glad Rachelle sent me here to remind me of it. And she is indeed Agent #2. (Does that also mean she tries harder, sort of like Avis?)
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this informative post. It’s very confusing for those of us just starting out! This laid it out very logically.
Blessings,
Mel
Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God
Wendy, I absolutely love it when you use the term “career plan” in regard to an agent! The whole writing path for me has been like this big crescendo leading up to THE “partnership.” Yes, advances, royalties, etc. are important, but it’s also important to realize that an agent is helping you build a solid foundation for your future. Like anything worth having, it’s all a process.
When an author allows God to put him/her with the right agent, supernatural magic happens! Sharing the same vision with my agent is my “mashed potatoes.” And when chemistries connect, that’s the real gravy!
I thank God for people like Stormie Omartian and Joyce Meyer. Both have used their personal stories to help millions of men and women get through everyday life. Joyce has written over 60 books using her personal stories to teach the word of God.
If someone wrote about a unique personal story and wanted to use it in the same way they have, are they still looked at as the one-book author?
Please help me understand who the one-book author is?
Excellent post, Wendy. I guess my thinking is a bit warped on this issue. While I went after national publications for my articles–which didn’t work out–I always had plans to start off with a small publisher for my children’s books, and hence, no advance and no marketing budget.
While I would love to find an agent and secure a big name publisher, my thought has been if I had a few books under my belt before I approached an agent, I would be better off.
Does that make sense? Am I shooting myself in the foot?
No, Amariah, a good nonfiction author uses bits and pieces from his life (along with other anecdotes) to illustrate any number of different books. Like Tony Hillerman once said, “A writer is like a bag lady going through life with a sack and a pointed stick collecting stuff.”
When I’m talking about a one-book author I’m talking about someone who writes a book about one momentous event in his/her life– that’s all they have. Like for instance if one of the trapped miners wrote a book about his ordeal– that would probably be his one and only book. He’s not a writer but has one powerful story to share.
Cheryl, get an agent as soon as you can. This might be easier said than done, especially in children’s, but each decision you make can have repercussions. For instance, if you chose the wrong publisher it’s worse than no publisher at all.
Since you write for children, be sure to join SCBWI (scbwi.org) and go to a conference or two. Learn everything there is to know about children’s industry and begin to connect with the agents specializing in that field. These days you almost have to know as much as the agent you are seeking. 🙂
Great information, Wendy.
It’s kind of a balancing act for the agent, isn’t it? You want the advance to be enough to be fair but not so much that there’s no hope for a new writer to earn it.
I echo those who have said they can’t see how a writer goes through this process without an agent.
Maybe I dreamed this, but was there a time when authors paid back the advance they didn’t earn?
Sandra, I would call that a nightmare. 🙂
One publisher has tried to get authors to pay back unearned portions of the advance before they will revert rights but it’s a bluff. Out-of-print declarations and reversions of rights are covered in the contract.
Of course each case is defined by that particular contract but generally the only way an author would have to repay the advance is either for nonperformance (missing the deadline or not turning in a manuscript) or turning in an “unacceptable” manuscript. Some contracts have a morals clause that could result in a required payback.
This is SUCH helpful advice! On my first book, I was thrilled to take whatever advance I was offered (and I felt like it was fair), but I’ve been wondering what to expect on my second and subsequent books. Let’s hope my book just sells so well that it’s a non-issue. 🙂
Wendy, do you see the nature of advances changing for mid-list authors? I have heard from multiple sources that there is the possibility of being dropped by a publisher due to mergers or downsizing, and was wondering if an author is dropped due to the current state of the industry whether or not it adversely alters how potential publishers view the author (and thus leads to what might seem to be unfairly lower advances for future novels).
LOL! I can sleep peacefully now.
Got it! Thanks Wendy!
Thanks for pointing out that a smaller advance can be a GOOD thing when you’re starting out. I hadn’t really thought that way.
(And it’s really cool that you have an agent from another agency commenting on your blog!)
Thanks for the advice, Wendy. I’m already a member of SCBWI, so I guess I did something right.
So can you give us some ballpark figures for each scenario you’ve offered? Or is that on tomorrow’s agenda…? Just curious.