Received a publishing offer

allryuken · Mar 10, 2017

Howdy folks,

Recently received an offer and just looking for some general advice.

Self published a book some 5-6 months ago, and it went viral a few months ago and we've sold close to 5,000 copies. In February we averaged 59 sales per day. So far in March this trend is continuing.

We got approached by a mid-large (i believe) sized publisher who has offered us a deal, 15%/25% print/ebook royalties of net income with a $4k advance.

We believe we can sell at least 10,000 paperbacks of the title over 2017. 90% of our sales are paperback, we don't move a huge amount of ebooks. With current royalties, we'd earn a further $37,000 from self-pub on our own.

Tried to find an agent to help us negotiate this, so far have not been able to find one, so just going to go it on my own.

So this offer I've received seems fairly average to me, just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone would like to give general advice on pros/cons of a deal like this. Cheers.

Cheers!

Dennis E. Taylor · Mar 10, 2017

I recently went through a similar exercise. Had an offer from a publisher, with I think pretty normal publisher royalties. The problem was that for any given number of unit sales, I would be taking a huge hit in net revenue compared to self-pub royalties. Of course, you expect to get more sales with a publisher behind you, but the question is simply: will you get a big enough increase in sales to offset the decrease in per-unit royalties? Plus some, because why would you sign a contract for what amounts to a wash?

In my case, the answer was no, the publisher would not be able to increase sales by that much. So I passed.

Mind you, my sales are primarily e-book and audio. I do some paper sales through createspace, but it's not significant.

And the cachet of being signed with a publisher and having your books stocked in Chapters or B&N is maybe worth something to you as well.

RightHoJeeves · Mar 10, 2017

allryuken said:
We believe we can sell at least 10,000 paperbacks of the title over 2017. 90% of our sales are paperback, we don't move a huge amount of ebooks. With current royalties, we'd earn a further $37,000 from self-pub on our own.

I'm intrigued - what sort of book is it? Normally with self publishing, it's totally the other way around with the vast majority being ebook sales, and publishers coming along to better service the print rights.

The reason I ask this is fair simple. If you've sold 5k paperback copies of a self published book, it's reasonably likely that, with some targeted marketing, you could sell a lot more ebooks. There are highly successful indie authors whose paperback sales account for less than <5% of their total sales. You might not currently be set up for that or know much about marketing ebooks, but it's definitely worth thinking about.

I can understand why a publisher approached you, because it's highly likely they're thinking "the book is obviously good because its sold 5k paperbacks. But they haven't exploited the ebook at all." Talk about shooting fish in a barrel!

I reckon you should do some really solid research on marketing ebooks. If you've sold 5k paperbacks and think you can double it, you can probably sell a lot of ebooks. And you wouldn't be getting 25%. You'd be getting 70%.

CameronJohnston · Mar 11, 2017

Firstly, congratulations, that's a great place to be. Secondly, is this for only one book, or are you (and the prospective publishers) looking to grow this into a whole career? Trade publishers are are a really good way to raise your 'brand' awareness, reaching the places that self-publishers find almost impossible.

allryuken · Mar 11, 2017

CameronJohnston said:
Firstly, congratulations, that's a great place to be. Secondly, is this for only one book, or are you (and the prospective publishers) looking to grow this into a whole career? Trade publishers are are a really good way to raise your 'brand' awareness, reaching the places that self-publishers find almost impossible.

The offer is only for this book. I have a couple of other books in different genres and another book out next month. Me personally, working towards a career, but this has not been discussed with the publisher.

Old Hack · Mar 11, 2017

Can you tell us who the publisher is? That would be helpful. You can PM me in confidence if you don't want to say out in the public bit of AW. Also, watch out for the royalties payable on net: if net isn't clearly defined in the contract you could end up with very little. Consider what rights you're selling, what chance you have of the publisher selling those rights on if they get them, and so on. And ask what sales they expect.

gingerwoman · Mar 15, 2017

RightHoJeeves said:
I'm intrigued - what sort of book is it? Normally with self publishing, it's totally the other way around with the vast majority being ebook sales, and publishers coming along to better service the print rights.

The reason I ask this is fair simple. If you've sold 5k paperback copies of a self published book, it's reasonably likely that, with some targeted marketing, you could sell a lot more ebooks. There are highly successful indie authors whose paperback sales account for less than <5% of their total sales. You might not currently be set up for that or know much about marketing ebooks, but it's definitely worth thinking about.

I can understand why a publisher approached you, because it's highly likely they're thinking "the book is obviously good because its sold 5k paperbacks. But they haven't exploited the ebook at all." Talk about shooting fish in a barrel!

I reckon you should do some really solid research on marketing ebooks. If you've sold 5k paperbacks and think you can double it, you can probably sell a lot of ebooks. And you wouldn't be getting 25%. You'd be getting 70%.

Yes I'm really curious what genre book would have so many POD print sales. I'm thinking it is a non fiction book?

mrsmig · Mar 15, 2017

allryuken said:
Howdy folks,

Recently received an offer and just looking for some general advice.

Self published a book some 5-6 months ago, and it went viral a few months ago and we've sold close to 5,000 copies. In February we averaged 59 sales per day. So far in March this trend is continuing.

We got approached by a mid-large (i believe) sized publisher who has offered us a deal, 15%/25% print/ebook royalties of net income with a $4k advance.

We believe we can sell at least 10,000 paperbacks of the title over 2017. 90% of our sales are paperback, we don't move a huge amount of ebooks. With current royalties, we'd earn a further $37,000 from self-pub on our own.

Tried to find an agent to help us negotiate this, so far have not been able to find one, so just going to go it on my own.

So this offer I've received seems fairly average to me, just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone would like to give general advice on pros/cons of a deal like this. Cheers.

Cheers!

Has the term "net profit" been defined? In other words, would you receive royalties based on revenue (sales) or on net income (what's left over after the publisher creams off its expenses off the top)?

If it's the latter, be very wary. Ask the publisher to itemize the deductions. I received an offer last year that looked good on its face - advance, offset print run rather than POD - but discovered the business plan was to withhold royalties until the publisher recouped its offset printing costs. That expense was greater than the advance they offered, so I went with another publisher.

PeteMC · Mar 18, 2017

mrsmig said:
If it's the latter, be very wary. Ask the publisher to itemize the deductions. I received an offer last year that looked good on its face - advance, offset print run rather than POD - but discovered the business plan was to withhold royalties until the publisher recouped its offset printing costs. That expense was greater than the advance they offered, so I went with another publisher.

OUCH! That rather makes a mockery of how an advance is supposed to work and sounds very shady - glad you dodged that one!

allryuken · Mar 19, 2017

I've now resolved this issue and made my decision.

Many thanks to all who took the time to share thoughts, you all helped and gave me something to think about.

Received a publishing offer

allryuken

Dennis E. Taylor

Get it off! It burns!

RightHoJeeves

CameronJohnston

Great Old One

allryuken

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

gingerwoman

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

PeteMC

@PeteMC666

allryuken