We’ve all heard stories about $100,000, even $1 million advances. The truth is those advances are rare. More often, nonfiction authors receive an advance of around $5,000. The numbers vary depending on which agent and publisher you ask, but a new author with no guaranteed sales who signs a contract with a traditional publisher is going to get a very small advance.
The money isn’t paid out all at once either. You might get half upfront and half when you turn in the completed manuscript. Or you could get it in three equal payments: when you sign the contract, when you turn in the manuscript, and when the book is published.
If you’re working with an agent (which traditional publishers usually require), they take 15 to 20 percent off the top of that payment. You get what’s left, which is taxable income.
The advance isn’t free money—it’s a sort of loan against future sales. That’s right: once your book is published, the traditional publisher retains that amount from your royalties before you get another dollar. You don’t earn a dime on book sales until the advance is “paid back” to the publisher.
Speaking of royalties, they are much less than you might think. The retailer takes 40 to 50 percent off the cover price to cover their costs. Then the publisher takes the majority of what’s left—often 85 to 90 percent. They may stagger the percentage they take, so the author gets 10 percent off the first 10,000 copies sold and 15 percent off any sales after that. Here’s how this might work out:
You get an advance of $5,000. Let’s be generous and make it $10,000. Your agent takes 15 percent off the top, so you get $8,500—$4,250 when you sign the contract and another $4,250 when you turn in the manuscript. Three years later, your book is released for $20. Barnes & Noble takes at least 40 percent, leaving $12. Your publisher takes 90 percent of that amount, leaving you with $1.20 in royalties per book. But wait…don’t you have to pay back that advance? Yes, your publisher wants their $10,000 back, so before you make a dime in royalties, you have to sell more than 8,000 books ($10,000 / $1.20 = 8,333).
Most books never “earn out,” which means they never sell enough copies to pay back the advance. That can hurt the author’s chances of getting a second contract. Also, books that don’t earn out don’t pay royalties. The advance you get from the publisher may be the only money you ever receive.
So what can authors do to make more royalties? They can include a buyback commitment in their book proposal, which the publisher then includes in the contract. A buyback is a promise made by the author to purchase a set number of books, which they then sell at speaking engagements and book signings and through other channels. That means you, the author, are guaranteeing the publisher a certain number of sales from your own pocket. You would be surprised by how many “six-figure advance” authors go this route. There is nothing wrong with it if you have the ability and desire to deliver on those sales. For example, you might have a massive list of subscribers who will preorder your book. Or you may have a publicist who has set you up with numerous speaking engagements for organizations whose contracts guarantee the purchase of books for all attendees.
Again, there is nothing wrong with this model. But how many authors are in a position to sell enough books to pay off a six-figure advance?
Here’s the kicker: even if you agree to sell your own books, don’t expect your traditional publisher to give you a massive discount. You probably won’t have to pay the cover price, but you will be paying about the same as they charge any retailer—more than half the cover price.
By the way, there’s a reason most agents and publishers don’t disclose this kind of information on their websites. If they did, no one would pursue a traditional publishing deal. Of course, you can try to negotiate for more money. But the bottom line is your book is a product, and the publisher has to believe they are going to make a decent profit on it before they invest a dime in editing, design, and publishing. So unless you can prove there are readers out there eager to buy your book, don’t expect much wiggle room.
Oh, and that 85 to 90 percent the publisher takes from each sale? That’s in perpetuity (forever) or until they let the book go out of print and relinquish the rights back to the author. So even though it may seem reasonable to give up that high percentage initially to cover the cost of editing, design, and publishing, continuing to give up that much money and control indefinitely seems like a high cost to continue paying simply for printing and distribution, which are largely automated these days.
How Scribe Is Different
You’re probably thinking, “This is great information, but how is Scribe any different? And why should authors choose Scribe over traditional publishing?”
Well, let’s start with advances. Scribe does not pay advances, period. So you won’t get a few thousand dollars to start and finish your book. But you also won’t have to hand over 15 to 20 percent of it to an agent (and did I mention that you have to pay that 15 to 20 percent back to the publisher from your book sales?). We don’t work with agents because we don’t believe there should be industry gatekeepers between you and getting your book published.
Then there are royalties. Scribe won’t take a dime of your royalties. They are all yours to keep. Retailers like Amazon take a cut of the list price to cover their costs, but what’s left is all yours. You don’t have to wait to get paid while your publisher recovers their advance—you start earning right away. And because we don’t take that 85 to 90 percent cut off, you make much more on every book sold. And if you want to sell your books directly from your own website or at book signings, conferences, and other events, you bypass the typical 40 to 50 percent cut the retailer takes.
This might sound too good to be true. How does Scribe stay in business with all these amazing benefits to our authors? Doesn’t the author have to pay for anything?
We charge you a one-time flat fee for our professional publishing services. This covers our costs to help you write, edit, design, publish, and distribute your book. One fee, one time. That’s it. Unlike traditional publishers that take a percentage of your book sales forever, we never ask for more money.
After your initial 100 complimentary copies—a gift from us—you can order as many books as you like and pay only the cost of production. So instead of making $1.20 off a $20 book, you earn $5, $10, or $15 per book, depending on the distribution channel. A retailer will still take a cut, but again, Scribe takes nothing from you—you keep 100% of rights and 100% of royalties. And if you sell your books directly to readers, you make even more. That means more money in your pocket to invest in marketing your book—and celebrating your new status as a published author!
As far as Scribe versus traditional publishers, we’re just scratching the surface here. I have so much more to tell you, and it’s going to blow your mind.
