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FROM ‘CATCH-22’ TO ‘GONE GIRL’
What Do Publishers Really Pay You For A Book?
Learn from these 63 mind-blowing (or heartbreaking) ‘advances’ paid to bestselling or barely selling authors
“Thrilled” doesn’t begin to describe how I felt when a major publisher bid $10,000 for my first novel. I was the book critic for an Ohio newspaper at the time, and I wanted the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus to stand up in Public Square and sing the “Hallelujah” chorus.
I was overjoyed because I’d written my novel on a whim and wasn’t sure I’d find a publisher at all. And I’d read a lot of literary history and knew of famous authors who had received a far lower “advance,” the publishing term for money paid after you sign a contract.
The truth about ‘six-figure advances’
You could easily get the idea from news reports that successful authors are all signing break-the-bank deals with publishers. But a closer look at the numbers tells a different story.
Let’s say that you get a $100,000 advance. Your literary agent will take a 15% commission. In the U.S., you’ll also owe federal and state income taxes on your advance, which could eat up another 30% or more. And publishers pay on an installment…
