There’s no escaping the fact that publishers and
authors are essentially in an adversarial position. Even in the very best
and most supportive publisher/writer relationships there is the tension
caused by the fact that authors would like to earn as much as possible
from their writing and publishers to pay as little as they can get away
with. Understanding this is part of working your way through the
relationship so as to come out of it in the way that best suits you as the
writer.It’s fair however to say from the outset that publishers are
really only middlemen. They have to work with the market and inside the
bookselling environment, which has been changing rapidly in recent years. What this means,
for instance, is that you can be the best
writer of westerns outside the US or an author who has been published by
that publisher for decades, but if there is no longer a market for your
writing then your publisher will not want to publish or carry on publishing your
work. Publishers are not charities and most are now run on pretty
commercial lines.
Similarly, publishers are operating within the retail environment, so
if bookselling is under pressure or the supermarkets and book chains are
successfully negotiating ever higher discounts, then publishers will
struggle to maintain their margins and will want to pass some of the pain
on to authors in the shape of lower royalties. The rapid growth of online
bookselling, in particular Amazon, has changed things radically for
publishers, and you can be sure that they are giving a very high
discount to these retailers.
Having said all that, it is very important to understand clearly the
way in which writers are remunerated by publishers and what it means for
you. This is quite complicated, which is why writers, who are not a very
hard-nosed lot when it comes to hawking their own work, prefer to have an
agent. The Inside Publishing article on
Advances and Royalties will give
you the framework for how these work.
The rise of ebooks is putting a new strain on the relationship
between publishers and authors, as publishers try to work out a way of
making money out of ebooks without undercutting their other editions.
For their part, authors mostly think they should have a much higher
royalty on ebooks, as the cost of delivery is so low compared to the
printing and distribution costs for print editions. This view does
ignore the big investment publishers have made in digital technology,
and it also ignores all the other costs of producing a book, but it is
easy to see why writers feel that way.
If you remember throughout your dealings that the publisher is trying to pay as little as
possible, and that there is no ‘right’ figure, you will find it much
easier to understand what is going on in the negotiation. If you are
in a strong position and your book is thought to be in demand, then your
agent might auction it to the highest bidder, although other factors such
as marketing spend or promotional plans might also come into the equation.
Agents are naturally keen to get as high as possible an advance for
their authors, as this impacts on their own earnings from the contract.
Most agents take 10% or 15% from the primary contracts (see
The Relationship between Publishers and
Agents), but don’t forget that they will take whatever percentage
of income is agreed on all earnings.
The very high prices paid for some new writers’ work have often made the
headlines and unfortunately given many aspiring writers the idea that
writing is the way to make a quick fortune. These big deals are the
exception rather than the rule and, if their books haven’t performed in
the market place, an author will often be dropped by their publisher, who
will have lost a lot of money in terms of the unearned advance. Worse
still, it will be hard for these authors to find another publisher because
information about previous sales is now freely available. Not only
does a potential new publisher have to convince themselves that it’s worth
taking on someone who may be perceived as a failure – although they may in
fact have sold quite well – but the bookshops will be unwilling to take
another punt on this author.
If you can find an agent to represent you, the chances are that their
efforts will help you not only to get a publishing deal but also to get a
better one. However it has now become so difficult to persuade an agent to
take you on, that it may well be that you are trying to go it alone, or
you may be writing in an area where agents do not operate, such as
educational texts. Or perhaps you have self-published and now a publisher
is interested in you. In these cases it is important to have a very
clear idea of what you want out of the deal and what you will accept.
I wouldn’t advise any author to belittle themselves, for instance by
saying that they don’t mind not having an advance. The money is an
indication of how the publisher rates you and in general authors who do
not even rate an advance are not going to get much of their publishers’
attention unless they are writing in an area where advances are not the
norm.
My general advice would be not to be too fixated on advances. If you
think your book may have a long life, then the royalties may be the most
important element. It is wonderful as a writer to be in the position
of earning steady income from your backlist. If however the important
thing is to get your work out there in front of readers, then maybe the
deal itself is not the key thing for you and you need to consider what you
think about the publisher and what they will do for you.
Either way, don’t forget that very few writers can support
themselves on their writing alone, so don’t give up the day job until
you are sure about your income from writing. On the positive side,
remaining engaged with the world through going to work may actually
benefit your writing.
Chris Holifield
