How Does The Money Work

OMG! You've got a deal with a Bix Six publisher! It's a one-book deal for £20,000 - break open the champagne and book the holiday of your dreams.

STOP!!!

Sadly, while you should definitely break open the champagne, hold back with the big spending. A publishing deal doesn't mean you getting the money in one wodge, it's a staggered payment. Plus, your agent is going to be taking a cut from it, 10% or more usually nowadays, 15%. That's £2000 - £3000 gone immediately. You're now playing with £17,000.

This is likely to come in several stages:

1: Signature of contract
2: Acceptance of manuscript
3: Publication of hardback
4: Publication of paperback

There are variations on the stages: if your manuscript is already completed, Stage 1 & 2 are combined so there are only 3 stages; if it's only coming out in hardback or paperback, then again that's down to 3 stages.

So if it's 4 stages, that's £4250 per stage, 3 stages is £6333. Nice money, but it doesn't have the same woo-hoo qualities as £20,000. Especially when it may be spread out over a couple of years.

I signed my deal in October 2002, when I got Stage 1. I had to wait until January 2004 for Stage 2 for hardback publication, and May 2004 for Stage 3. In other words, the money was spread out over 20 months.

Let's suppose you've signed a £40,000, 2 book deal. Woo-hoo! Book A is finished, Book B is just a synopsis. It's October 2011, they've decided the perfect time for your book to be published is April. It takes about a year for a publisher to produce a book so that's not going to be April 2012, but 2013. That means that Book B is scheduled for April 2014. Because Book A is finished, it's on a 3 stage payment. Book B is but a couple of pixels on your laptop, so it's on a 4 stage payment. Here goes...

October 2011: Stage 1 (of 3) signature/delivery Book A = £6333, Stage 1 (of 4) signature Book B = £4250
November 2011: Nothing
December 2011: Nothing
January 2012: Nothing
February 2012: Nothing
March 2012: Nothing
April 2012: Nothing
May 2012: Nothing
June 2012: Nothing
July 2012: Nothing
August 2012: Nothing
September 2012: Nothing
October 2012: Nothing
November 2012: Nothing
December 2012: Stage 2 (of 3) hardback Book A = £6333
January 2013: Nothing
February 2013: Nothing
March 2012: Nothing
April 2013: Stage 3 (of 3) paperback Book A = £6333
May 2013: Nothing
June 2013: Stage 2 (of 4) Delivery of ms for Book B = £4250
July 2013: Nothing
August 2013: Nothing
September 2013: Nothing
October 2013: Nothing
November 2013: Nothing
December 2013: Stage 3 (of 4) hardback Book B = £4250
January 2014: Nothing
February 2014: Nothing
March 2014: Nothing
April 2014: Stage 4 (of 4) paperback Book B = £4250

Hopefully at some point in 2013 you're signing a deal for Book C and Book D, so more money will pitch up then. And other rights sales may help out, as will royalty payments if you get them, and PLR from the libraries. But I hope you can see why people say "Don't give up the day job" when you sign your first deal.

How Much Money Might I Get?

I was part of an industry panel recently and at the Q&A bit someone asked how much they might get if they sold their novel. There was lots of umming and ahhing, and the concensus was 'it depends' and 'how long is a piece of string'.





This is true - you might get offered anything from a few hundred pounds to a few hundred thousand pounds. But I thought it might be worth putting down some sweeping generalisations about money.





When my first book was about to be sent out to publishers back in 2002, my agent told me that she wouldn't accept less than £10,000 for commercial fiction, and £2000 for literary. Those figures reflect roughly the minimum expected sales figures for a first novel from an unknown writer published by a Big Six publisher (that's the major companies like Random House and Hachette).





At that time, however, there was quite a bit of money around so hearing about deals for new writers at around £25,000 - 30,000 per book (literary or commercial) wasn't unusual. I'm not hearing that for new authors now - half that seems common. Very occasionally there'd be a mega deal for a first time writer, up into 6 figures. Rare then, rarer now (although it does happen).





Outside the Big Six publishers, expected minimum sales are lower, and the advances also lower. There are several established publishing companies that routinely offer advances of around £500 per book. It's not a way to get rich quick!





The level of the advance will determine the level of marketing spend the company means to give your book. A high 5 or 6 figure deal means a serious marketing spend, including advertising, special deals at supermarkets. My first book went out to reviewers in a red foil padded envelope and included all sorts of freebies the highlight of which was a specially printed pair of knickers (this is TRUE!) and there was also a deal with La Senza and WH Smiths.





This level of spend guarantees good sales. However, even good sales can be disappointing if a lot of money has been spent both on buying and marketing a book. I've met several authors who were dropped after getting great deals because their sales didn't live up to the money spent.





At the other end of the scale, traditionally low advances meant no marketing spend. However, this may well not be true for some of the new independent publishers who make up for the low money up front by having imaginative and enthusiastic marketing campaigns. If my choice was between a new publisher or an established (but not Big Six) publisher, I'd very much be looking at the marketing plan, rather then the money offered up front.





After all, an advance is an advance against royalties. If the book sells well, you 'earn out' your advance and receive more money. A small advance means you'll earn out quickly, and get more money.





Then there are other rights. These include foreign rights - you'll get some money from every country your agent sells your book to: small countries mean small cheques, bigger countries bigger cheques - large print rights, audio rights, serialisation rights. (It used to be that hardback rights and paperback rights were sold seperately, but now most publishing deals are for both together.)





So, in answer to how much money you might get, it depends, how long is a piece of string, a few hundred to a few hundred thousand. But, like winning the lottery, you're more likely to get a tenner than millions.