Signed maybe 30 contracts in 25 years here in Oslo and my experience is about the same as you describe. This is a tiny market, so 3000 sold copies is a success. 15,000 a lifetime achievement. What I would add to is the translation deal. We make cookbooks... so the production is costly. That is reflected in the contract. When we had one of those lifetime achievements our publisher came home from the Chelsea Book Fair with the astonishing news that the world liked our book and wanted it translated into a few different languages. The dream of a little place by the sea evaporated when we found out these translation contracts paid only pennies per book. Still, it's a kick to see the cover in English or French, etc.
Summer, you had me laughing crying altogether. All true! First book (big advance) did not earn out. Second book (small advance) did. Third and fourth mixed. Fifth just a steady trickle. Royalty checks that make my tax accountant squint at me over her bifocals at tax time, and say, "This career of yours is perilously close to a hobby." To which I inevitably reply, "Not if I can help it!"
Wish I could drag and drop here, but there's a screen cap has been on my desktop for a while, and it's germaine, with a quote from Sandra Newman, answering in an interview a question about what she tells students about getting published. "I'm very honest with them...No part of being a writer is kind to the ego. What I don't tell them--or what I sometimes tell them but nobody can hear until it's happened to them-- is that even if you get a book published with a good publisher and it does okay, you will still experience it as a terrible wound to your ego in most cases. Some people completely crack up, even though their book seemed to do fine. That's because, somehow, you think people will be changed by your book. You think your life will change, and the world will too. There will be at least some ripple in the pool. But your book was just another book, and that is very hard to take."
I find this bleak and bracing, and having no experience of it, I imagine it's true, in many cases.
It's all so true! I paid a fortune for the image rights for one of my books -- and now I'm having to pay again for some of them as it's being translated. Thank. you for this honest list!
It was a very interesting read. Right now I'm working with another author on a book, in French, about our town, Mers-les-Bains (Somme), that has a Belle Epoque historical preservation district which has been featured several times on French tv. The other author is a specialist on decorative architectural ceramics and I'm writing about the town's history just prior to the construction of the "Quartier balnéaire" and the architects who built it, some quite well known, some very difficult to track down. However, because of the specialized subject matter we know we are going to have to raise funds ourselves to have it published, and it will likely have to be subsidized through local tourism organizations, the mairie, local banks, the DRAC (direction régionale des affaires culturelles), etc. Thankfully I am retired and have been able to spend uncountable hours doing research in the town's archives as well as all on many primary sources, thankfully mostly now available on-line. My primary motivation to be involved in this project has been to dispel some of the longstanding myths that for years circulated about our town (Gustave Eiffel built the villas!) and show that the true stories we've discovered through rigorous research are far more interesting than the legends.
Some years ago I was the promotions manager at a Canadian big box bookstore and later worked at a regional publisher. Bookstores liked hosting readings mainly because it brought people into the store to buy books. We were pitched from publishers mostly and there were many readings where we had what I called “a small but dedicated crowd” 🤷♀️
The big name authors were real special events—wine, snacks, and actual media advertising. We did an event with Anne Rice (RIP) in an actual movie theatre we rented and showed “Interview with a Vampire” and she stayed for hours afterward signing. But mostly we set up some chairs in the store, introduced the author and made sure we had books. I’m curious how readings have changed during the pandemic to Zoom. I’ve been able to enjoy authors from all over the world! Not sure if that translates into book sales but I know I’ve been reading more.
And working as a marketing manager at a regional publisher I spent a lot of time writing press releases and pitching to radio and media.
Thanks for an excellent and very accurate summary.
I was lucky with my publisher (the British Library) who organised a few events to promote my book when it first came out. It sold (relatively) well, exceeding their expectations (ie it went to a second printing) and still sells enough each year for me to get royalities (probably helps that the British Library has its own bookshop and it's part of a series "The Philosophy of..." which keeps getting new titles added).
I'll also point out that in the first year of publication, I was personally responsible more than 10% of the total sales, selling books through my website, face-to-face and to friends. As an author, if you want your book to sell, you have to push it hard yourself, even if, like me, you have a supportive publisher.
It's called the Philosophy of Coffee, by the way :-)
So sobering, and I didn't even realize I was drunk on these myths! Useful and welcome cold shower. I'm reading way more than pre-pan., mostly library books, some purchases, always from the stores in town I like. Ambition is toxic, I think, but illusions are necessary, or at least dreams are, as you say.
I was once offered a $750 advance for a book. I abandoned the project as it wasn't worth my time, but it's hard to explain to friends why I'm not writing *that book*, they don't believe it could pay so little.
Thank you so much for this. I'm a writer hoping to get published and I know it's bleak out there, but this was so much more detailed than the tidbits I've heard elsewhere! (Missed the tweets because I'm off Twitter for a month and might make that permanent—my mind feels clearer already.)
Great Article. But, can you explain this: "A realistic first advance for a trade nonfiction book is between $1,000 and $10,000. After your agent takes 15%, you get 25%-50% of what's left.
I thought that after the agent take 15%, the author gets the rest, not just 50%!
This totally reflects my husband’s experience publishing a book. Fortunately, that was a side project and not his day job. On a serendipitous note - I picked up The Oyster War a few weeks ago while I was in Point Reyes for an oyster tour. I’m really excited about reading it.
Very insightful piece, Summer! With ~20 nonfiction academic books behind me, your words brought back memories such as the rare minimal $ advance (duly subtracted from first-year royalties...and royalties, BTW, were always contracted at low-single digits of sales); the skill of indexing (don't contract out or with the press for the big bucks paid for an index--writers know the categories like the back of their hands!); a royalty check of 13 cents (in the 80's...nowadays publishers don't bother unless it adds up to $50+); and more. But there were and are joys: the opportunity to develop ideas that 'advance knowledge and/or inspire action,' the adoption of books for university course reading, the issuance of a 'second edition' and a 'fourth printing.' Oh, and on book covers, stay engaged with the press or suggest/prepare your own. For one book about the millions of people who live in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands--many in big cities--the publisher's art department proposed a cover picture of a lone cactus plant from the Joshua Tree National Park!
Signed maybe 30 contracts in 25 years here in Oslo and my experience is about the same as you describe. This is a tiny market, so 3000 sold copies is a success. 15,000 a lifetime achievement. What I would add to is the translation deal. We make cookbooks... so the production is costly. That is reflected in the contract. When we had one of those lifetime achievements our publisher came home from the Chelsea Book Fair with the astonishing news that the world liked our book and wanted it translated into a few different languages. The dream of a little place by the sea evaporated when we found out these translation contracts paid only pennies per book. Still, it's a kick to see the cover in English or French, etc.
Summer, you had me laughing crying altogether. All true! First book (big advance) did not earn out. Second book (small advance) did. Third and fourth mixed. Fifth just a steady trickle. Royalty checks that make my tax accountant squint at me over her bifocals at tax time, and say, "This career of yours is perilously close to a hobby." To which I inevitably reply, "Not if I can help it!"
Wish I could drag and drop here, but there's a screen cap has been on my desktop for a while, and it's germaine, with a quote from Sandra Newman, answering in an interview a question about what she tells students about getting published. "I'm very honest with them...No part of being a writer is kind to the ego. What I don't tell them--or what I sometimes tell them but nobody can hear until it's happened to them-- is that even if you get a book published with a good publisher and it does okay, you will still experience it as a terrible wound to your ego in most cases. Some people completely crack up, even though their book seemed to do fine. That's because, somehow, you think people will be changed by your book. You think your life will change, and the world will too. There will be at least some ripple in the pool. But your book was just another book, and that is very hard to take."
I find this bleak and bracing, and having no experience of it, I imagine it's true, in many cases.
It's all so true! I paid a fortune for the image rights for one of my books -- and now I'm having to pay again for some of them as it's being translated. Thank. you for this honest list!
I’m a picturebook illustrator, and the numbers are largely the same :)
It was a very interesting read. Right now I'm working with another author on a book, in French, about our town, Mers-les-Bains (Somme), that has a Belle Epoque historical preservation district which has been featured several times on French tv. The other author is a specialist on decorative architectural ceramics and I'm writing about the town's history just prior to the construction of the "Quartier balnéaire" and the architects who built it, some quite well known, some very difficult to track down. However, because of the specialized subject matter we know we are going to have to raise funds ourselves to have it published, and it will likely have to be subsidized through local tourism organizations, the mairie, local banks, the DRAC (direction régionale des affaires culturelles), etc. Thankfully I am retired and have been able to spend uncountable hours doing research in the town's archives as well as all on many primary sources, thankfully mostly now available on-line. My primary motivation to be involved in this project has been to dispel some of the longstanding myths that for years circulated about our town (Gustave Eiffel built the villas!) and show that the true stories we've discovered through rigorous research are far more interesting than the legends.
Some years ago I was the promotions manager at a Canadian big box bookstore and later worked at a regional publisher. Bookstores liked hosting readings mainly because it brought people into the store to buy books. We were pitched from publishers mostly and there were many readings where we had what I called “a small but dedicated crowd” 🤷♀️
The big name authors were real special events—wine, snacks, and actual media advertising. We did an event with Anne Rice (RIP) in an actual movie theatre we rented and showed “Interview with a Vampire” and she stayed for hours afterward signing. But mostly we set up some chairs in the store, introduced the author and made sure we had books. I’m curious how readings have changed during the pandemic to Zoom. I’ve been able to enjoy authors from all over the world! Not sure if that translates into book sales but I know I’ve been reading more.
And working as a marketing manager at a regional publisher I spent a lot of time writing press releases and pitching to radio and media.
So real, so sobering and yet inspiring. Shows why we write. I need this condensed into a "logline" for my friends and family.
Hi Summer,
Thanks for an excellent and very accurate summary.
I was lucky with my publisher (the British Library) who organised a few events to promote my book when it first came out. It sold (relatively) well, exceeding their expectations (ie it went to a second printing) and still sells enough each year for me to get royalities (probably helps that the British Library has its own bookshop and it's part of a series "The Philosophy of..." which keeps getting new titles added).
I'll also point out that in the first year of publication, I was personally responsible more than 10% of the total sales, selling books through my website, face-to-face and to friends. As an author, if you want your book to sell, you have to push it hard yourself, even if, like me, you have a supportive publisher.
It's called the Philosophy of Coffee, by the way :-)
Thanks again,
Brian.
So sobering, and I didn't even realize I was drunk on these myths! Useful and welcome cold shower. I'm reading way more than pre-pan., mostly library books, some purchases, always from the stores in town I like. Ambition is toxic, I think, but illusions are necessary, or at least dreams are, as you say.
Thank you for laying this out so clearly.
I was once offered a $750 advance for a book. I abandoned the project as it wasn't worth my time, but it's hard to explain to friends why I'm not writing *that book*, they don't believe it could pay so little.
Thank you so much for this. I'm a writer hoping to get published and I know it's bleak out there, but this was so much more detailed than the tidbits I've heard elsewhere! (Missed the tweets because I'm off Twitter for a month and might make that permanent—my mind feels clearer already.)
Great Article. But, can you explain this: "A realistic first advance for a trade nonfiction book is between $1,000 and $10,000. After your agent takes 15%, you get 25%-50% of what's left.
I thought that after the agent take 15%, the author gets the rest, not just 50%!
Thanks,
Rosie
This totally reflects my husband’s experience publishing a book. Fortunately, that was a side project and not his day job. On a serendipitous note - I picked up The Oyster War a few weeks ago while I was in Point Reyes for an oyster tour. I’m really excited about reading it.
That whole “reach exceeds grasp” I guess is something else again. It’s good to rethink my outlook on ambition. Long story. Aren’t they all?
Very insightful piece, Summer! With ~20 nonfiction academic books behind me, your words brought back memories such as the rare minimal $ advance (duly subtracted from first-year royalties...and royalties, BTW, were always contracted at low-single digits of sales); the skill of indexing (don't contract out or with the press for the big bucks paid for an index--writers know the categories like the back of their hands!); a royalty check of 13 cents (in the 80's...nowadays publishers don't bother unless it adds up to $50+); and more. But there were and are joys: the opportunity to develop ideas that 'advance knowledge and/or inspire action,' the adoption of books for university course reading, the issuance of a 'second edition' and a 'fourth printing.' Oh, and on book covers, stay engaged with the press or suggest/prepare your own. For one book about the millions of people who live in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands--many in big cities--the publisher's art department proposed a cover picture of a lone cactus plant from the Joshua Tree National Park!