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The advance is an advance on royalties: it's how much the publisher thinks you will earn in royalties. With the advance, you get your royalties up front, guaranteed, rather than little by little. If your book sells more than the publisher had estimated, so that your actual royalties are higher than that figure, you get additional royalty payments. If your book doesn't sell as well as anticipated, you still get to keep the advance.
An important difference is that the major commercial publishers--the ones whose authors generally earn the most--use the advance system. A publisher who doesn't offer an advance is likely to be smaller, and not have as wide distribution of titles or the same kind of clout with book stores and other vendors for placement. Bookstore placement is still the major driver of sales. Therefore, the total amount the author earns in royalties when published by a smaller, non-advance-paying publisher is likely to be smaller than the amount the author would have earned with a good-sized commercial publisher who pays advances.
As for paying the publisher...don't. Publishing is much more than printing a book. It involves extensive editing, professional production values, marketing, placement. These are all things the publisher does much better and more in depth when it's their money on the line. Money is a marvelous motivator. A publisher who has invested time and money into your book has a stake in its success. A publisher you pay has no financial stake in the success of your book and it will show in low sales. A publisher who asks you to share the cost doesn't believe in your book enough to support it fully, and it will show in low sales.
Yes, sometimes books put out by the major commercial publishers have poor sales, but at least the author has the advance as compensation. Check sales figures for the pay-to-play publishers and you'll see *all* their books have relatively poor sales, and 99% of their authors are in the hole because they got no advance and they paid to be published.
An important difference is that the major commercial publishers--the ones whose authors generally earn the most--use the advance system. A publisher who doesn't offer an advance is likely to be smaller, and not have as wide distribution of titles or the same kind of clout with book stores and other vendors for placement. Bookstore placement is still the major driver of sales. Therefore, the total amount the author earns in royalties when published by a smaller, non-advance-paying publisher is likely to be smaller than the amount the author would have earned with a good-sized commercial publisher who pays advances.
As for paying the publisher...don't. Publishing is much more than printing a book. It involves extensive editing, professional production values, marketing, placement. These are all things the publisher does much better and more in depth when it's their money on the line. Money is a marvelous motivator. A publisher who has invested time and money into your book has a stake in its success. A publisher you pay has no financial stake in the success of your book and it will show in low sales. A publisher who asks you to share the cost doesn't believe in your book enough to support it fully, and it will show in low sales.
Yes, sometimes books put out by the major commercial publishers have poor sales, but at least the author has the advance as compensation. Check sales figures for the pay-to-play publishers and you'll see *all* their books have relatively poor sales, and 99% of their authors are in the hole because they got no advance and they paid to be published.
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