Advances

by Dr. Vicki Hinze

Advances are all over the place, dependent on the author's publishing history and factors totally out of his/her control, such as current marketing conditions. But there is a general rule of thumb that was shared with me some time ago for established authors. I won't say it's the only one that exists, but it's the only one I've heard discussed. I'll share it, but do take it with a grain of salt because there are a lot of factors that affect it.

If the publisher ships 100,000 copies of your book,

If your book sold 50,000 copies @ $6.00 that equals $300,000.00

The retailers of your book are paid 40 - 45% of that.

The publishers costs on your book are 5 -10% of that.

If the publisher makes 50% - costs, that's $135,000.00.

Then royalties should be 15-25% (Note: average royalties are now 6, 8, or 10%)

And the advance should be $18,000.00 - $35,000.00.

As I said, this was given to me as a rule of thumb. It certainly isn't set in stone, and outside factors do play a part.

© Copyright Dr. Vicki Hinze 2004. All Rights Reserved.

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Dr. Vicki Hinze is an award-winning, best-selling author who routinely shares her expertise at national writers' conferences, online, and through her writing guides. Her latest non-fiction book is ALL ABOUT WRITING TO SELL, from Spilled Candy Books for Writers. This 589-page ebook covers everything you need to know about the craft of writing, the publishing business, and the secrets to getting published. ALL ABOUT WRITING TO SELL is available at www.SpilledCandy.com as a download or disk.

Or you can visit Vicki's author site at www.vickihinze.com