How amazing! Just proves if you are willing to take the time to write and have it be brilliant there will be someone fantastic to help you put it out in the universe!
Hi Janet, This wonderful piece of news+some interviews I´ve read, triggered some small doubts I was hoping you could help me with.
Taken that advances are actually equal to the author´s percentage on sales until the vol. of sales reaches the advance ammount,why is it that a big advance is a really good thing? I´d like to understand the mechanism behind these choices and offers.Is it because it shows how much the publisher is willing to "bet" on the book?
What if we get a big advance and sales don´t go as expected?
I´d be really grateful if you could toss a bit of light on this,because, as you can see, I´m completely ignorant on the matter. I believe this might be helpful to other writers too.
That's a bit of a surprise. Of the Irene Goodman Agency, I would of have thought Miriam Kriss would rep a series like that. I thought slithery Barbara preferred other genres (thrillers, historicals, mysteries). I've never queried her for that reason.
@ Clara: You've actually hit upon the ultimate balancing act in advances. There are reasons that a large advance is good, the primary being (aside from "yay, money!") that when a publisher invests that much money in a book, they sure as hell are going to invest a lot of time and effort in making sure it's a success. Presumably (though as we know, it's not always the case) the book is good enough to get the word-of-mouth going, but the publisher will work harder to make sure the first wave of mouths that gets the book is the biggest possible. The presumption here is that the advance will earn out really fast, and so the author will see those royalties soon.
Of course, some just want as much money as they can get upfront and feel that not earning out an advance is a badge of honor (I think this is less and less true in the current world, but they do exist). Personally, I don't believe that. A book not earning out its advance can hurt an author's career, and my personal focus as an agent is to make sure an author has a long and successful career. If books don't earn out, eventually publishers stop offering. Of course, if a publisher came to me offering half-a-million for my client's trilogy, I don't know if I could turn that down. But normally publishers don't come waltzing up offering that much, and the money has to be fought for, so not a huge conundrum.
But a 6-figure deal for 3 books isn't necessarily all that scary-big. If the deal was just one book, for $34,000, then it certainly is a large amount, but not a "this might end my career" amount. And that's not taking into account rights; $34,000 for world rights to a book is hardly large at all. Of course, in this case the deal was much larger and only for North American rights, so this is not the best example of "when 6-figure deals aren't all that large," but I figured it would be a point worth sharing.
I followed the link to DeStefano's website which has a short story and a blog, and I have to say that she's a remarkable writer with an amazing voice. I think I'll like her books.
11 comments:
How amazing! Just proves if you are willing to take the time to write and have it be brilliant there will be someone fantastic to help you put it out in the universe!
Hi Janet,
This wonderful piece of news+some interviews I´ve read, triggered some small doubts I was hoping you could help me with.
Taken that advances are actually equal to the author´s percentage on sales until the vol. of sales reaches the advance ammount,why is it that a big advance is a really good thing? I´d like to understand the mechanism behind these choices and offers.Is it because it shows how much the publisher is willing to "bet" on the book?
What if we get a big advance and sales don´t go as expected?
I´d be really grateful if you could toss a bit of light on this,because, as you can see, I´m completely ignorant on the matter. I believe this might be helpful to other writers too.
Thank you!
Wow, that sounds like my kind of book.
You raved about BEFORE I FALL, and now this. When are you gonna bite slithery Barbara and start representing YA?
Congrats to Ms. Poelle and Ms. DeStafano. How terrifically exciting this must be!
Slithery is good.
That's a bit of a surprise. Of the Irene Goodman Agency, I would of have thought Miriam Kriss would rep a series like that. I thought slithery Barbara preferred other genres (thrillers, historicals, mysteries). I've never queried her for that reason.
Congratulations to that young author, she has a great career ahead of her. How exciting.
@ Clara: You've actually hit upon the ultimate balancing act in advances. There are reasons that a large advance is good, the primary being (aside from "yay, money!") that when a publisher invests that much money in a book, they sure as hell are going to invest a lot of time and effort in making sure it's a success. Presumably (though as we know, it's not always the case) the book is good enough to get the word-of-mouth going, but the publisher will work harder to make sure the first wave of mouths that gets the book is the biggest possible. The presumption here is that the advance will earn out really fast, and so the author will see those royalties soon.
Of course, some just want as much money as they can get upfront and feel that not earning out an advance is a badge of honor (I think this is less and less true in the current world, but they do exist). Personally, I don't believe that. A book not earning out its advance can hurt an author's career, and my personal focus as an agent is to make sure an author has a long and successful career. If books don't earn out, eventually publishers stop offering. Of course, if a publisher came to me offering half-a-million for my client's trilogy, I don't know if I could turn that down. But normally publishers don't come waltzing up offering that much, and the money has to be fought for, so not a huge conundrum.
But a 6-figure deal for 3 books isn't necessarily all that scary-big. If the deal was just one book, for $34,000, then it certainly is a large amount, but not a "this might end my career" amount. And that's not taking into account rights; $34,000 for world rights to a book is hardly large at all. Of course, in this case the deal was much larger and only for North American rights, so this is not the best example of "when 6-figure deals aren't all that large," but I figured it would be a point worth sharing.
Thank you gate keeper!
I followed the link to DeStefano's website which has a short story and a blog, and I have to say that she's a remarkable writer with an amazing voice. I think I'll like her books.
Post a Comment