talkin' about the business....
May. 16th, 2008 06:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanMore writing. I am progressing steadily if not swiftly -- 2,000 new words a day seems to be the pattern. It's not sexy but it gets the job done without breaking anything (like me), and I'm in the Discovery phase of the last quarter of the plot. Always fun, that. "That wasn't what I thought happened! That's not what the outline says!"
But, since it is that time of year, let me talk instead about royalties.
No, wait. Let me talk about advances. Because they are the A of A + B= C where A is advance and B is back-end monies [aka royalties] and C is an actual career.
An advance against royalties is what the publisher pays the author for the right to publish a book. It can be paid in a variety of ways, from half on signing the contract and half on delivery, to a seemingly endless series of drips and drabs, each triggered by an event [acceptance by the publisher of the outline, acceptance by the publisher of the manuscript, publication, six months after publication, reprint publication, etc] depending on the size of the advance. Larger advances often get broken into more and more-extended payments.
[I will pause here to play devil's advocate and point out that the publisher not only sees no money until months after the book is published (unless they sell sub rights), but has the additional outlay of production costs. Not defending extended payouts, just laying all the facts out on the table.]
So. That's A. There is always an A (if there isn't, get thee to another publisher, NOW).
Sometimes there's a B, the back-end monies. B occurs when a book has been published and sold well enough to recoup the advance [remember: an advance against royalties] for the publisher. The advance is repaid, not out of the publisher's share of the net sales, but the author's share, reasonably enough. Once that advance is earned out, then the royalty percentage given to the author goes to the author, not to repayment. Twice a year, generally. Except because of the arcane and favorable-to-booksellers-and-publishers-not-authors way it's set up [reserves-against-returns is a whole 'nother post, if people want], a royalty statment covers six months of sales that happened 4-6 months ago [they claim it takes that long for the accounts to be worked out. Having worked the other side of the desk, I can tell you....it actually does. Almost. Not because it's arcane but because the folk in the accounting departments hate everyone else. S'truth. I swear. And, having seen what passes for expense report record-keeping among editors and salespeople, I can't rightly blame them.]
Anyway. If you've earned out, and are getting royalties, it means that your book exceeded expectations for that book [because that's what your advance is based on, the expectation of how well the book will sell]. Exceding expectations is possibly the best way to ensure a career -- no matter how much money you cost the publisher, or how much money you might make, if you fail to meet expectations they are unhappy and if you exceed expectations they are generally not-unhappy and willing to buy more books from you. Sometimes for more money.
All this is why authors start to get twitchy at certain points in the year. We haunt our mailboxes, waiting, wondering... Because royalties are like snowstorms. You can make a prediction, but until you're actually shoveling, you have no idea what the final total will be.
And, to add insult to injury, statements for unearned books come first. So you know what you're not getting... but not what you are.
And me? Luna's statements go out later than mostly everyone else's, it seems.
Argh. Don't ask me how I'm doing, I can't tell you yet.
On the plus side, since I am not in debt, not in risk of foreclosure, not looking to meet hot singles, or find a new job, and the only thing I want to lengthen are my legs, I seem to be free of the risk of accidentally opening spam. Yay. And now the caffeine is brewed and it's time to hi ho hi ho....
But, since it is that time of year, let me talk instead about royalties.
No, wait. Let me talk about advances. Because they are the A of A + B= C where A is advance and B is back-end monies [aka royalties] and C is an actual career.
An advance against royalties is what the publisher pays the author for the right to publish a book. It can be paid in a variety of ways, from half on signing the contract and half on delivery, to a seemingly endless series of drips and drabs, each triggered by an event [acceptance by the publisher of the outline, acceptance by the publisher of the manuscript, publication, six months after publication, reprint publication, etc] depending on the size of the advance. Larger advances often get broken into more and more-extended payments.
[I will pause here to play devil's advocate and point out that the publisher not only sees no money until months after the book is published (unless they sell sub rights), but has the additional outlay of production costs. Not defending extended payouts, just laying all the facts out on the table.]
So. That's A. There is always an A (if there isn't, get thee to another publisher, NOW).
Sometimes there's a B, the back-end monies. B occurs when a book has been published and sold well enough to recoup the advance [remember: an advance against royalties] for the publisher. The advance is repaid, not out of the publisher's share of the net sales, but the author's share, reasonably enough. Once that advance is earned out, then the royalty percentage given to the author goes to the author, not to repayment. Twice a year, generally. Except because of the arcane and favorable-to-booksellers-and-publishers-not-authors way it's set up [reserves-against-returns is a whole 'nother post, if people want], a royalty statment covers six months of sales that happened 4-6 months ago [they claim it takes that long for the accounts to be worked out. Having worked the other side of the desk, I can tell you....it actually does. Almost. Not because it's arcane but because the folk in the accounting departments hate everyone else. S'truth. I swear. And, having seen what passes for expense report record-keeping among editors and salespeople, I can't rightly blame them.]
Anyway. If you've earned out, and are getting royalties, it means that your book exceeded expectations for that book [because that's what your advance is based on, the expectation of how well the book will sell]. Exceding expectations is possibly the best way to ensure a career -- no matter how much money you cost the publisher, or how much money you might make, if you fail to meet expectations they are unhappy and if you exceed expectations they are generally not-unhappy and willing to buy more books from you. Sometimes for more money.
All this is why authors start to get twitchy at certain points in the year. We haunt our mailboxes, waiting, wondering... Because royalties are like snowstorms. You can make a prediction, but until you're actually shoveling, you have no idea what the final total will be.
And, to add insult to injury, statements for unearned books come first. So you know what you're not getting... but not what you are.
And me? Luna's statements go out later than mostly everyone else's, it seems.
Argh. Don't ask me how I'm doing, I can't tell you yet.
On the plus side, since I am not in debt, not in risk of foreclosure, not looking to meet hot singles, or find a new job, and the only thing I want to lengthen are my legs, I seem to be free of the risk of accidentally opening spam. Yay. And now the caffeine is brewed and it's time to hi ho hi ho....
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 11:41 am (UTC)I would personally love to see a reserve-against-returns post when you've got the time.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 01:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 01:27 pm (UTC)*stalks down hall at Penguin to talk to Ace editor*
I'll tell you, though, the anxiety of the first book and whenever the rest of the magical dollar number stuff happens is mind boggling....
no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 01:46 pm (UTC)I'll tell you, though, the anxiety of the first book and whenever the rest of the magical dollar number stuff happens is mind boggling
There was so much going on in my life during that first and second book period, I think I almost forgot to be anxious about it. Almost. I made up for that with book three, which was when I started to reach critical mass of Stuff in Stores, which is, what, Stage Three of a Career?
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 07:39 pm (UTC)This is where having a good agent and keeping a weather eye on your projects is essetial. Nobody will ever take as good care of your career as you will yourself.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 07:26 pm (UTC)(and since I've met Jennifer a few times, yeah, I knew she was slightly shorter than I am. Never had cause to ask about her inseam, though.)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 03:07 am (UTC)I did read the info about book publishing, some of which I'd seen before and while it is of definite concern for an author, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not all that good at original concepts like you and other authors are.
So I chose to remark on a minor story line than distract others from the main plot line and to feel as if I'm making a valid contribution, but from the amount of time you've devoted to this, I just hope that no one has posted anything new since my original post, in a vain hope that no one else has discovered the useless non-sensical subjects that I choose to post about.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 03:17 am (UTC)