Our article, How Book Authors Are Paid, discussed how you get money for authoring a book, which is usually done via a system of advances and royalties, plus an overview of how these work for both fiction and nonfiction authors.

In that article, I said that the advance is the upfront money, and that you get to keep this money even if the book is not successful, in fact, even if not a single copy is ever sold.

The exceptions

But there are times when the author must return their advance money. While rare, this will happen when you break your promises in the publishing agreement. Here are a few examples:

• If you fail to deliver the manuscript to the publisher within the contracted deadlines, the publisher has the right to cancel the book and then you must return the advance money.

• If you deliver a manuscript that is poor in quality or it does not match the contract description of the book. The publisher usually has a procedure that allows the author to remedy the situation within a certain number of days. If the author fails to do this, the publisher cancels the contract and the advance must be returned.

• If your manuscript contains plagiarized text, a very serious offense and a violation of the contract provisions, the publisher will cancel the project and the author must repay all the advance money.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

A literary agent discusses how and when fiction and nonfiction authors receive money from publishers.

Response to a recent article reveals that writers do not understand how fiction and nonfiction book authors are paid. Here’s an overview of book advances and royalties and how publishing companies pay them.

The advance

When a publisher accepts your book project, whether it is fiction or nonfiction, you will generally receive money for it prior to publication. This upfront money is called the advance.

First advance payment

Previously, it was common to receive the full advance upon signing the publishing contract. Now, it is more common for the advance to be paid in two or more parts. A portion is paid on execution, which means after the author has signed the contract and sent it in to the publisher for co-signing. The publisher returns a copy of the executed contract with the first check to the author. Sometimes, the first check follows the contract four to six weeks later.

Other advance payments

A second portion of the advance is often paid upon delivery and acceptance of the complete manuscript.

Other portions may be paid at certain stages of delivery, for example, after half of the manuscript has been delivered to the publisher.

You can count on it

With only a few exceptions, the author keeps the full amount of their advance money, even if the publisher does not sell a single copy of the published book.

Beyond the advance

Usually, the advance must be earned back through book sales before the author receives more money. One editor recently described the advance as basically an interest-free load to the author, which isn’t quite true. The advance is the author’s guaranteed payment for their time writing the book.

Without an advance, the author is taking a risk that his or her time could be for no payment. A high advance means that the publisher is taking more risk than the author. Either the writer, the publisher, or both are betting that the book will go on to make a profit.

Royalties

Book authors generally receive a percentage of sales, called royalties, according to the terms of their contract with the publisher. While formerly the royalty was based on a percentage of the book’s cover price, these days it is more commonly calculated as a percentage of the publisher’s net receipts.

Whichever way it is calculated, after enough copies have sold to pay back the author’s advance to the publisher from his or her percentage, the author then begins to receive additional money as royalties.

Statements and payments

Most publishers issue statements every six months along with a check for any amount owed to the author.

The publisher will probably hold back a portion of the author’s payment as a hedge against returns. The amount held should be specified on the statement, and it is usually released to the author within 1, 2, or 3 reporting periods.

So long as the publisher keeps your book in print, the author could continue to earn additional money in the form of royalties for years to come.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

A literary agent discusses why bestselling book lists are valuable for authors, publishers and the reading public.

What does it mean to have your book appear on one or more bestselling lists?

In a word, it means sales.

Which translates into more money for authors and publishers.

Many people scan the bestseller lists, then go out and buy the current most popular books. They like knowing what so many others are talking about, plus there is the assumption that if a book is being read by so many people, it must be worthwhile to buy and read.

Which lists are the best to be on?

The ones with the most readership, of course!

Some lists are more prestigious than others, but from an author’s standpoint, being on any bestseller list is beneficial because it brings attention to your book. The biggest obstacle to successful book sales is making the public aware that it even exists, particularly those people who would be most likely to buy it if they only knew about it.

Premium Book Promotion

Being on one or more bestselling lists probably does more to promote an author’s books than getting one or more good book reviews.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Related:

Top Best Seller Book Lists tells you more about the various bestseller book lists and how they are compiled.

A literary agent and author discusses how writers deliver their manuscripts to articles and book publishers. Methods have ranged from snail mail and overnighted hard copy to email attachments.

Believe it or not, much of my first published book, a novel, was written on a manual typewriter by the light of a kerosene lantern.

Before you imagine me sitting in a rough-hewn log cabin with a dirt floor, let me hasten to add that I was writing my manuscript during a series of bad winter storms that regularly knocked out our electricity, forcing me to abandon my beloved IBM Selectric for a manual typewriter.

Delivery methods before computers

Manual or electric, typewriters did not have memories. Nor did we have affordable copy machines. Delivering a manuscript meant hand-typing clean text.

In those days, published authors had to create at least 3 identical copies of their text. The book publisher would require the top copy plus one clean carbon copy. This meant using at least 2 messy carbons per manuscript page, so that the author could retain one copy as a backup.

One could have a couple minor corrections per page, provided that they were well executed, which meant white-out on not just the top sheet, but also on the carbon copies. This was easier said than done, as scrolling up or down for access to the errors usually meant the sheets got misaligned and were ruined. Getting to the bottom of the page and discovering you’d typed into the bottom margin meant starting all over again. Frustrating, indeed!

The reason that book publishers required at least two hard copies was so that the editor could manually make notes on both copies, mailing one back to the author and retaining one for herself. Then the edited manuscript went to a highly-paid typesetter who began the process of creating the actual published books.

Authors enter the computer age

Once computers were available, publishers began to require that an author compose their work on a computer and deliver their material both in hard-copy as well as floppy disks, then 3.5 inch disks, then CDs.

In the past, some book publishers required my clients to not only deliver electronically, but they would even go so far as to specify in their contract that the author must compose their text on a PC (not an Apple platform) using only particular versions of Word that would match their software. I’ve had Mac-owning clients who had to borrow a PC in order to meet this contract requirement. Fortunately, this has changed.

From the writer’s fingers to the published page, all via electronics

Now book publishing has become so advanced that authors can compose on either PC or Mac computers using almost any word processing software.  Forget hard copy or disks or CDs, instantaneous delivery of the final manuscript via  attachment is the norm.

Editing is now being done on the attachment and emailed back to the author or else the author accesses it on the publisher’s website.  After the editing is complete, the author’s typed text goes directly into the publisher’s specialized software for layout, ready for printing.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

A literary agent discusses the changing landscape of book publishing with its emphasis on celebrity and how this affects sales.

When we market an author to a book publisher these days, here is the first question we are likely to be asked:

“Does your client have a platform?”

Increasingly, having a strong platform is a requirement for writers to be accepted not only at the major publishing houses, but also at the good independents. It is a significant change from my early years in book publishing when the major concern was to locate and develop a talented writer with a viable topic. Although writing ability and a good subject are still important ingredients, without a platform, an unknown author is likely to get rejected these days.

Platform vrs. Substance

Senior-level publishing officials have confided in me that they’d never have gone into publishing had they known it would turn out like this. They love books and authors. They look with dismay at the necessary emphasis on platform, sometimes over substance.

Celebrity Sells

But the reality is that books from people with big platforms out-perform those from unknowns. The public is crazy about celebrities; the media is celebrity-friendly. It’s a simple equation: if you are famous, your book will sell.

Publishing is a business; like any other business, it is necessary to generate a profit. What better way to minimize the financial risk than to acquire books from people with platforms?

This does not come as good news to writers who want to think that after getting a book deal, the publisher’s promotion efforts will create their platform. Instead, publishers want unpublished writers to come with platforms already in place.

Our discussion of writer’s platforms starts by considering famous authors. Later, we’ll discuss what you can do if you aren’t famous.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

You are a writer who’s become a published author. What if you should be in a car accident and become paralyzed? Even worse, what if you should die? Would someone be able to carry on the business side of your writing career in the event of your disability or death?

Because your writing is a business endeavor, the published author should be an organized person who keeps good records. It is useful to yourself while you are alive, and it will become even more useful to your loved ones if you should become incapacitated or die. Here are the specifics of what you should keep in order and easily accessible at all times.

Information about your literary works, including:

• A list of everything you have published, the date it was published, and who published each work, whether it was a book or an article.

• A copy of every contract for every published work.  Put them into am accessible file for your executor to consult. The originals should probably be in your safety deposit box.

• Any royalty statements you’ve been issued should be attached to the matching contracts. It would be helpful if you included a separate schedule of when payments are due. (In book publishing, royalty statements are usually sent every six months.)

• A copy of your written agreement with your literary agent. The executor will need to provide your agent with a legal document about how to handle your business affairs, including details about who gets your earnings. If you are unagented, your executor must provide this information to each book publisher.

• Detailed records of your pending sales for books and articles, including notes about what you’ve discussed about the agreements, payments, word length, etc.

• A list of your completed but unpublished work. Particularly if you are well known, this material might get published posthumously. It’s more likely to happen with book-length material than with articles.

• Your email addresses and passwords. Published authors do a lot of business via email these days, and your designated representative will need to be able to access your messages. The legal issues surrounding access to email after death are not resolved; at the very least your executor will need to keep the accounts current so that important messages do not bounce.

• Well-maintained records of all your writing expenses. These will be needed for your final tax return.

• Other documents every person needs to have available in the event of their death: copies of your tax records, details about checking and savings accounts, etc.

What happens to your current writing projects?

If you have signed a contract to deliver a manuscript and you have died before it is delivered, your agent, editor and executor will discuss how to proceed. If the material is substantially complete, perhaps another writer will be called in to finish the project. If your book manuscript is far from completion, your estate may be required to return the advance money you received.

Looking to the future

No one enjoys planning for his or her own serious illness or death.

But taking these steps will not only insure that your desires are carried out for your literary properties, but it also makes it easier for your loved ones, who may not understand the business of publishing, to carry them out.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

See also:

Mourning a Passing

Authors, Prepare for the Unthinkable: Your Death

Your Will, Letter of Instruction, and Obituary or Author Bio

Article commissioned for the Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents 2005

Yesterday two opposite things occurred: I got a scathing e-mail response to the personal advice I generously (and unnecessarily) offered in a rejection letter; and I got a beautiful thank-you card as a result of my handwritten comment added to the bottom of another rejection letter. Who do you think I’m more inclined to consider working with in the future?

There are so many similar examples. Yesterday I also got an e-mail complaint saying I rejected a project too quickly and therefore hadn’t read it (I had!) and a phone complaint because I hadn’t read the author’s 800-page unsolicited manuscript within 24 hours of receiving it. The e-mail was unnecessary and inappropriate, and the phone call interfered with an incoming book offer. Neither author endeared himself or herself as future clients.

Occasionally I get phone calls from wanna-be writers who demand my complete client list, including the books I’ve placed and the amount paid for each. Often they expect this information before they will share any details about their project. They never consider how they’d feel to have their financial information freely revealed to anyone who called their agent.

Some writers get mad if we respond too quickly, and mad if we take too long to reply. Others expect a few words of feedback to help them improve their submissions, yet resent even the most tactful suggestions. Some writers feel entitled to confidential business information. Understandably, this sort of thing results in many agents issuing the blandest of form rejection letters, and it causes some to close their doors to new authors or unpublished writers.

What should an author who wants representation do (and not do!)?

First of all, get an agent directory—this one will do nicely! —and actually read the listings. Select those agents who sound most compatible with your project. Then, approach them exactly the way the listing indicates.

If the listing states, “Queries only,” this means to write a one-page, typed letter, telling the agent something about your book and something about you as the author of this book. Send it via snail mail along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) that you fold and include with the query letter. Does this sound like I’m being terribly specific? Consider some of the mistakes commonly made by would-be clients—even after they tell the agent they got her name from this directory:

• Mailing the whole manuscript or the proposal when the agent indicated she wants the query letter only, and then will advise you if she wishes to read more.

• Failing to send along the required SASE or neglecting the postage.

• Calling to ask if the agent accepts poetry, or children’s books, or action/adventure novels, or whatever. Since the caller has already said they got our number from this directory, where this information is given in detail, this call is unnecessary.

• Calling to tell the agent about the book. Since you are trying to sell the agent on your writing ability, you should contact her in writing. There are only a few exceptions to this, which I hesitate to mention, because doing so in the past has only caused more authors to violate protocol.

• Having your spouse, best friend, co-worker, mother, or secretary call to tell the agent about your book. (This happens more often than you might think!) Or having your spouse, best friend, co-worker, mother, or secretary write to get the agent to request your wonderful material, usually using the “too busy” excuse for the writer not doing it himself. Would you send a substitute to fill in for you at a job interview? That’s really what this amounts to.

• Sending a manuscript reeking of cigarette smoke, or spraying the mailer with perfume can be a big turn-off. So is bad-mouthing your previous publisher or agent. Or outright lying, like saying a celebrity has endorsed your book when they haven’t, or that one of our clients has recommended you when they don’t even know you.

Any of these mistakes can end any agent relationship before it has even begun.

The agent asks to see your work, but what next?

That’s easy—do exactly as the agent’s letter (or e-mail or sometimes even phone call) says. If you have written a novel and the agent requests the first three chapters as a sample, send the first three chapters. Do not send chapters 3, 8, and 25 because you think they are your best. Do not neglect the SASE if you wish the material returned. Do not “forget” to send the requested synopsis just because you don’t know how to write one.

It’s a good idea to include a copy of your query letter with your package because the agent probably won’t take the time to find your initial letter and may not remember just why they were interested in you in the first place. This copy of the query letter should be placed right under your new cover letter for the whole package. The cover letter should not repeat what was in the query letter, but should include additional information about your work. State up front that the agent requested the material—and no, you should never say it was requested if it wasn’t.

When sending the package to the agent, do not send your materials piecemeal—the sample chapters in one package, the synopsis in another. Some people realize they forgot to include their return mailer after the fact, and it arrives in yet another package a few days later. Why should this matter? Just imagine receiving dozens and dozens of author submissions. Would you like to sort through the pile to find several packages that should have been sent together?

And don’t call the agent to see how she liked your work. The agent will respond. Remember, existing clients get top priority. If several weeks have gone by, snail mail a polite letter asking about the status of your submission.

The agent is considering representing you, now what?

You’ve followed submission etiquette, and now the agent loves your work and is thinking of offering representation. Often the next step will be a phone call from the agent, to get to know you, and to tell you something about the agency and how it operates. Things to keep in mind:

Don’t take over the conversation. The agent has a specific agenda, and if you don’t allow her to cover her agenda, she may decide not to represent you after all. The agent believes your writing has potential, now she needs to determine if you are the kind of person with whom she wants to work. You will probably have a chance to ask questions, but initially let the discussion unfold her way.

Don’t demand information. At this point you are entitled to know more about the agency, but ask questions politely. And use discretion. For instance, even if you know the names of some of the agent’s clients, don’t ask about their income or current projects. Client information is confidential and most agents consider it unethical to reveal these details.

Do speak freely. My previous advice is not an indication that you should hold back, or give only short answers to questions. This is a conversation and it should have give and take so that both you and the agent feel comfortable with each other.

Be a good communicator. You should feel welcome to contact your agent, but don’t abuse the privilege. This means you do not call or e-mail your agent over trivial things, making a pest of yourself. Do contact your agent whenever needed, and you can reasonably expect the agent to get back to you in a day or two, especially if you use e-mail, which makes it so easy to keep in touch.

Frequent phone calls are a breach of etiquette, particularly during business hours when the agent should be calling editors about your great work, or getting phone calls from editors about your great work. This can’t happen when clients monopolize the agent’s time. If a call is warranted, it’s best to request a phone date via e-mail, and let the agent call you when her schedule permits. When planning a phone conversation, it is helpful to give your agent a range of convenient times to call.

Understand that it can be quite difficult to make and keep a phone appointment, because just as the agent is preparing to dial your number, an incoming call might announce a big offer from a publisher. Naturally, the agent is going to give this conversation a high priority. For this reason, some agents are willing to speak with the client during nonbusiness hours.

Have appropriate expectations. Many agents provide the client with the submission history for their book once marketing is complete—if this is your agent’s practice, don’t ask for premature reports. If your agent periodically updates her authors with a list of publishers contacted, and it has been a while since you’ve been filled in, do e-mail your request for an update. Then, give the agent time to respond, knowing how busy she is, and understanding that she’d prefer to be spending the time calling new editors on your behalf.

We e-mail the author each time a rejection comes in, sharing any particulars, saving us the need to do periodic updates. The author is not automatically entitled to photocopies of rejection letters because they may contain confidential information, perhaps pertaining to other clients. Understand that there may not even be a rejection letter, as editors often call or e-mail a response to an agent.

Maintain a positive outlook. A great attitude goes a long way toward ensuring a long-lasting author-agent relationship, which is in both the author’s and the agent’s best interest. Although it is common in some circles to believe the author “hires” an agent, you do not. You are partnering with the agent, who becomes your guide through the publishing process. Understand that if you are an unknown, the agent is doing you a big favor by taking you on, demonstrating a lot of faith in your future. Be thoughtful and courteous every time you contact your agent, and your attitude will motivate her to work even harder for you.

Writers need to know that it’s a buyer’s market and there is a seemingly unlimited supply of talented authors available in a declining market. Successful agents—and that’s the kind you want to get—are extremely busy people. Most of us already have a great list of clients. Yet many agents remain approachable if you follow our established protocol. Dreams of finding a fabulous new writer keep us motivated to tackle the submissions pile, which agents must do beyond office hours and without pay. Simple etiquette and common sense will indicate professionalism and distinguish a promising writer from the crowd—and get you the representation you seek.

Copyright 2003 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.