How much do you make when your book gets published?

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katiemac

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It depends. Totally, completely, utterly depends. It could be any number. A couple thousand or much higher. Most likely, you won't be changing your current lifestyle too much right away, if at all.
 
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SPMiller

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There was a recent thread in which Gillhoughly posted romance advance stats.

If that's about average across the industry--which it isn't, but let's suppose it is--you might get an advance sufficient to support your lifestyle for 1-3 months, depending on the exact size of the advance and how much you spend.
 

Puma

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And a lot also depends on the publisher - big name = more money; little name = less.

Another way to look at it is to look at how much money may be available. If your book retails at $10.00 - it is sold at discount to all the big guys - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, etc. all get 55% off which means there's only $4.50 left to cover the cost of publishing, postage, marketing, etc. Royalties come off the profit after the expenses are paid. An advance is advance against royalty income so until there's a profit and the amount of the advance is covered, the author isn't going to see additional income. And then there's a bell curve that goes along with any book's popularity - for most books the life cycle isn't that long. Bottom line is - don't plan on quitting your day job. (But I wish you all the luck to be in a position where you can). Puma
 

Jill

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Is it enough to live on for a year? Half?​

Depends who the publisher and how much publicity and marketing they do. Eighteen months after my book was published I was still out of pocket because I had put so much time and money into marketing myself.
 

MarkEsq

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Is it enough to live on for a year? Half?

When my first book was published I made eighteen million dollars. That was the first year, the second I made another ten million and then the third year it went back up, for some reason, to twenty mill.
Now, those amounts are in 2010 dollars, just so we are clear. I have this neat device that transports me forward in time, so I just took a look at what will happen after I finish the novel I just started. Imagine my surprise!
 

eqb

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Remember, too, that income from a book doesn't arrive all at once (or in a steady trickle).

Let's say you get an offer for your first novel from a publisher in January. Using average amounts, the deal is a $5000 advance, with 10% royalties on the hardcover edition. The advance is split into three parts--$1500 on signing, $1500 on delivery-and-acceptance, and $2000 on publication.

A month or longer can pass before the contract arrives. You have a speedy publisher, so you get your contract in mid-February. You sign and return it. A few weeks later, in March, the first check arrives from your agent, minus her 15% commission. You get $1275.

Meanwhile, your editor also sends you a detailed letter, describing the revisions she'd like you to make to the novel. You take three months to finish those. She reviews the revised manuscript. That might take a few weeks or a couple months, depending on her schedule. If all goes well, she formally accepts the novel. It's July when you get your second check, also for $1275.

Now comes the longer wait for the book's release. Lots of things are happening--book design, cover art, copyediting, acquiring blurbs, writing the catalog copy for the publisher's sales force, etc. Depending on the publisher's schedule, it might be nine months or longer (sometimes much longer) before publication date. Let's say your book appears sixteen months after the offer. So the next May, you get $1700.

You've earned $2550 the first year, $1700 the second year, for that book.

At this point, you get nothing more from the publisher until the book sells enough copies for the royalties to reach the amount of your advance. If your book sells for $20, and you get a 10% royalty, the publisher needs to sell 2500 copies to equal your advance.

Once your advance earns out, you get royalties at regular intervals through the year. Usually it's twice or four times a year, but your contract will spell that out. Remember that your agent gets a cut here, too.
 
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Julie Worth

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When my first book was published I made eighteen million dollars.

That's very close to my experience. Of course, the movie tie-in was the key, especially winning an Oscar for the script! I made twenty four million in six months, which sounds like a lot, but isn't all that much after taxes and those cocaine parties that are de rigeur nowadays. Now I'm trying to claw my way back up, one million dollar deal at a time. It's a struggle.
 

CheshireCat

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Another way to look at it is to look at how much money may be available. If your book retails at $10.00 - it is sold at discount to all the big guys - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, etc. all get 55% off which means there's only $4.50 left to cover the cost of publishing, postage, marketing, etc. Royalties come off the profit after the expenses are paid.

Unless you sign a contract specifying that your royalty rate is on "net proceeds" rather than "cover price" or "list price" -- AND DON'T! -- the above isn't correct.

Standard in the industry for print editions (hardcover, mass market, trade paperback) is to pay the author a percentage of cover price. So you know going in how much per copy sold you'll earn.

Publishers are currently trying to slide through "on net" royalty percentages on eBooks and downloadable audio with the argument that because they have to "invest in new technology" and such they aren't making much of a profit.

To which I say bullshit.

But maybe that's just me. :Shrug: I happen to believe that their "expenses" should come out of the much higher percentage of a book's earnings allotted to the publisher rather than from my relatively paltry percentage. I also don't believe authors should bear the cost of publisher expansion into new technology -- not unless we get a much higher cut of the profits once that new technology is implemented. Problem is, publishers tend to stick like glue to what becomes "the industry standard."

So agree to "on net" royalty rates at your peril.

Down the road when eBooks are way more profitable, you'll have a hell of a time changing that particular "industry standard."
 
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