Publishing Journey: The Advance (aka Keeping My Day Job)

Before I got a book deal, the word “advance” was so magical to me. And mysterious, too. What, exactly, is it? And, more importantly, when do I get rich?

Ok, so what is it? Well, put simply, it’s a signing bonus. For first-time fiction writers, it’s paid when a publisher reads the full manuscript and wants to acquire it. If you’ve published before and done well, your publisher may buy your next book based on a proposal and sample chapters (nonfiction writers also get deals this way–lucky bastards).

The advance is paid against future royalty earnings, which means that for every dollar you receive in an advance, you must earn a dollar from book sales before you start receiving any additional royalty payments. So, for example, if you receive a $10,000 advance with a royalty rate that works out to $1 per book sold (more on royalties in another post), you would have to sell 10,000 books to “pay off” your advance. Now, if your book doesn’t sell enough to earn back the advance, you don’t have to return money to the publisher… BUT you will probably have to deal with them not wanting to publish another one of your books. Sad.

Now, the important question–when do I get rich? Well, not any time soon, unless I win the lottery. Most writers have heard of (and dreamed of) advances that are six or seven figures. Those are rare, my friends. Very rare. Rarer than the California condor. I think there are about ten living writers who get advances that large.

For a first-time writer (like me), the advance is modest. Mine is about half the annual salary of the job I had when I was 23. So, yeah. I used to think an advance was money you could live off of until your book is published (and then you could live off royalties from sales). Um, no.

Another thing–you don’t get the advance all at once. It is split into thirds. You get one-third of the advance upon signing the contract, one-third upon delivering the final manuscript, and one-third upon publication of the thing. And, actually, YOU don’t get it. The checks go to your agent. The agents takes their commission cut, and then sends the remainder to you. I haven’t received my first check yet, but when I do, you bet your ass I’ll make a copy of it and frame it.