PUBLISHERS BIDDING FOR AN AUTHOR

I have heard stories about how maybe two or three publishers have bid for an author and I was wondering how exactly this works. Do they know who they are in competition with or is that they are just told they're offer is not enough kind of thing. So I take it that if they are bidding for an author, the author can kind of get them to do things in his favour that maybe they wouldn't normally do. So does this automatically guarantee that the author gets more money

Well, dreaming doesn't hurt. The following is about Arundhati Roy submitting fher first novel, the God of Small Things, to British publishers:

Within three days of receiving the manuscript, two of the three were ready to make offers for the British rights. Roy didn't have a fax, so all bids were sent to a neighbour. Then, before she had time to make a decision, David Godwin, a literary agent and the third recipient of the manuscript, had caught a plane to India explicitly to meet Roy and sign her up. Roy chose Godwin because "obviously, the book had touched him enough to get on a plane and come to a strange country."

Godwin went to work, and eight British publishers bid unheard of amounts for the hardback rights. There followed the scramble for European rights. Then, while Roy was staying with a friend in Vienna, Godwin called her and asked her to fly to New York immediately.

"By the time we got to New York," recalls Roy. "I had got over the excitement of the book being so much in demand. I decided that this time I wouldn't go with the highest bidder. I would go with the publisher I felt best about. I am very proud of the fact that I went with Random House because I respected them even though another large publishing house offered me $150,000 more than the Random House bid."

So all you really need to do to make publishers bid for your novel is to make sure it's of the same, Booker-winning, quality...

Fresie

It may not hurt to dream but does it help? Time spent day-dreaming is time not spent writing.

It's called an auction, it's arranged by your agent, and it isn't all that common.

Yes, the other publishers know who's bidding.

It may not hurt to dream but does it help? Time spent day-dreaming is time not spent writing.

"By the way, I always like better brooding over my works and dreaming how they should be written than actually writing them. And this really is not from laziness. Why is it?" -- F. Dostoevsky

Ty, I think you'd have a better chance of getting some of your wants satisfied if you gave less importance to the goals of glory, wealth, and power. People who succeed at professional writing don't start with those things in mind.

Auctions can also backfire in a couple of ways, which is why they aren't held all that often. 1. The publisher can bid a ton of money for the novel, then it fails to sell. This happens fairly often. 2. An actution is held and no one really wants the novel at all. This also happens fairly often.

If a publisher pays frontlist money and you get backlist sales, it's time for you to change your agent and your name.

I think anyone who goes into novel writing with the idea that they be wealth wealthy wealthy (and i say idea, not dream) as in idea being that they start obsessing over it, is going to be very disappointed.

Ty, if you have an agent--ask him/her these questions. I seem to recall somewhere in the screamed thread titles that you said you had an agent.

I think every writer when they get that first request or two for their complete novel is a bit excited (well, a lot) and no doubt we all dream and think, wow, could I get a 6 figure advance, and what would happen if--then we get a rejection slip or two and reality sets in.

You seem to be very obsessed with the ideas of wealth--and fame (ie movie, games etc.)

Buy yourself a book or two--there are a few out there that outline the process and all its possible curves and jags of publishing that can be a handy reference and also ground you.

If you keep on this way and you get that first rejection its going to really hurt.

Shawn

I don't dream about these things

I think you've got me wrong

I don't dream or even think that Iam going to be wealthy or have all this happening to me but I just wanted to know the ins and outs of the various different things and believe me I have had my fair share of rejections and knock backs

Re: I don't dream about these things

Then why not ask about the normal publishing road instead of the extraordinary?

First books rarely earn a 6 figure advance, (most earn <in advance form> less than 10,000) yes there are exceptions, but those are very rare. (yes, they are heard about, but they are heard about because they are the exceptions, not the rule)

Does previous publicity help? Not unless you are a celebrity, or have written something of current interest.

You haven't even been offered a contract and you are already talking about movie and game rights.

You submit, you wait, you write the next book. Sometimes you hear in a few days, sometimes in a few weeks, sometimes months, sometimes it can take a year or longer. (Having an agent can help--they do the worrying and they can bug a publisher without ticking them off) There is no concrete answer to some of your questions. And as I said, you are asking about the exceptions, not the general rule.

The "tone" of your posts is rather frantic, from the all caps "shouted" titles, to the yes well what about if-- wording. And if you don't dream or think all these exceptions then why ask about them?

And every writer dreams of hitting it big--

Relax. Write. Let things happen. And if the exception does happen, a bidding war say or an offer of 6 figures--good for you--get an agent at that point. Movie and game rights happen after a book is very very popular--well past the point of a publisher simply reading a ms. And by then if your book is that popular you will know the ins and outs, the way most of us learn them, by experience.

Shawn

Re: I don't dream about these things

Shawn's advice is grreat, though I'd say there's zero chance of a six figure advance or of an auction unless you have an agent FIRST.

Publishers never offer large advances out of the goodness of their hearts. Without an agent, a writer is lucky to be offered more than $5,000, even from a top publisher. And I've never even heard of an auction happening without an agent setting it up.

Re: I don't dream about these things

I'd rather get a $5,000 advance and a million in royalties than get a million dollar advance and $5,000 in royalties and not break even.

An advance is just that: An advance against royalties.

If your book is going to earn you a million dollars it will earn you a million dollars, and if it doesn't then it won't.

The bigger the advance you recieve the more sales your book has to have to be a successful publishing venture.

Re: I don't dream about these things

Okay... I GIVE! I cry "Uncle" (Jim)...

What exactly is an advance, and what are the legalities? I kind of assumed that an advance was some kind of money to keep you going... pay your rent an so forth while you wrote a new work for the publisher.

Does a first time novelist even get an advance?

Either way... let's say the publisher gives me a paltry three grand. I write an absolute stinker that bombs so bad it puts them in the red. Do I owe the publisher? Do I pay back that advance?

Re: I don't dream about these things

An advance is exactly what the name implies: an advance payment on your anticipated royalties. It's a gesture of good faith on the publisher's part, an assurance that, having purchased the right to exploit your intellectual property for profit, it will actually do so.

The amount of an advance depends on many things, including the publisher, the genre of the book, how well the publisher thinks the book will do, how much of a push the publisher plans to put behind it, your track record if you have one, whether or not there's an auction (which usually bumps up the amount).

Yes, first time novelists routinely get advances, though they may be small. Independent publishers often pay much smaller advances than the large houses. Some independents pay no advances, but that has nothing to do with whether or not the writer is a first-timer.

Since the advance is an advance on royalties, you'll get additional money only if the book sells enough copies to reimburse the advance. This is known as earning out. Even if your book doesn't earn out, however, you won't have to give the advance back (writers having to reimburse unearned advances is a common myth, but it isn't true). Not earning out has more serious consequences, anyway, if it happens over several books: not being able to sell your next book.

A lot of books never earn out.

- Victoria

Re: I don't dream about these things

Does a first time novelist even get an advance?

If they aren't offering an advance (and I don't mean just one stinking buck either, friends), why are you bothering to talk with 'em?

Either way... let's say the publisher gives me a paltry three grand. I write an absolute stinker that bombs so bad it puts them in the red. Do I owe the publisher? Do I pay back that advance?

It's entirely possible for a book that doesn't earn out to still be profitable for the publisher. A huge number of novels don't earn out. The author doesn't have to pay any money back (if some publisher asks for their money back, you're not anywhere in the real publishing world).

Not earning out means a) the actual royalty rate on the books you did sell was higher than the stated royalty rate in the contract, and b) you won't be justified asking for a higher advance next time around.

Generally speaking, publishers like to make their advances match the amount they figure a book will earn in royalties.

Re: I don't dream about these things

Ty, get a copy of The Career Novelist by Donald Maass. It answers this question and many others, some of which will be relevant to you.

Re: I don't dream about these things

There are only two circumstances I know of where an author will have to pay back an advance, and neither applies to a first time writer who has actually written a novel and had it accepted by a publisher.

After your first novel, you will usually receive a contract and an advance before you write the next novel, said advance being loosely based in size on how well the first novel sold, and given because you've written an acceptable synopsis/outline and/or sample chapters. In other words, you get the next advance before the novel is actually written.

If, for whatever reason, you fail to finish the second novel, the publisher can ask for the advance to be returned. Or, if you do finish the second novel, and the publisher decides it's unacceptable, the publisher can also ask for the advance to be returned.

It should also be pointed out that advances are almost never paid in one lump sum. A first time writer who has actually written and sold a novel will usually receive half the advance on signing the contract, and the other half on publication, and there can be almost two years between these events.

I receive my advances in three parts; one third on signing the contract, one third on delivery and acceptance of the novel itself, and one third on publication. Royalties are then paid twice a year.

But advances can be broken into many parts. I know one writer who received a very large advance, and it was broken into twelve parts, each part paid monthly. I know another who received a fairly large advance, and had it paid over three fiscal years. This gave him enough money to live on, and kept him in a lower tax bracket. He asked the publisher to pay out tyhe advance this way, and the publisher obliged.

Anyway, whatever the size of the advance, you likely won't receive it all at once.

Re: I don't dream about these things

Thanks guys, for clearing that up. :clap