Offered A Book Deal From Publisher - Good Deal?

**MetroSwim** · 07-12-2007 12:53 PM

A known publisher of books has contacted me about doing a book for them. After a couple hoop jumps ( outlines etc.), my book made it past the senior editors. I finally got a call from the publishing house. He explained the deal to me - and since I have no experience with book publishers, I don't know if it's much of a deal at all.

The royalty rate is very low and they offer no advance. Is this normal for first time authors?

It made me wonder about self-publishing. I'm NOT interested in doing an Ebook.

Does anyone here have experience with book publishing?

**WanganRunner** · 07-12-2007 02:31 PM

At the very least, you might want to cross-shop with a couple of other publishers and mention that you have an offer outstanding already.

I wouldn't self publish the first one though, unless you feel like you'll never come up with any worthwhile content ever again.

And you can always try to negotiate. Ask for maybe a tiny advance or a bump in the royalty rate, etc....

**harrymcwealth** · 07-12-2007 02:42 PM

For authors the royalty rate is normally 10% minimum. And they do receive cash advances (depends, maybe a couple thousand). Something is fishy here I'd say. Try to get something better before you sign anything.

**jasaunders** · 07-12-2007 03:23 PM

According to Rebecca Brandewyne, your information is off.

"Generally speaking, the standard royalty rates for paperback books vary from a low of 1% to a high of 10%, with the average royalty rate falling at 6%"
"An author signing a first contract can expect to receive an advance of anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000, on average, per book."

I suggest reading this excellent article for morei nformation: http://www.brandewyne.com/writingtips/authorspaid.html

**harrymcwealth** · 07-13-2007 01:40 AM

I was pretty much right. Anyway -- 1% is a blow job with teeth. You're getting jacked if you don't get at least 10%. Stephen King gets 50%.

**jasaunders** · 07-13-2007 09:03 AM

You said 10% minimum, Rebecca says 10% maximum. That's not pretty close.

I love how you're comparing a no-name, publishing his first book, to Stephen King... quite a comparison there.

**silversurfer** · 07-13-2007 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by MetroSwim

A known publisher of books has contacted me about doing a book for them. After a couple hoop jumps ( outlines etc.), my book made it past the senior editors. I finally got a call from the publishing house. He explained the deal to me - and since I have no experience with book publishers, I don't know if it's much of a deal at all.

The royalty rate is very low and they offer no advance. Is this normal for first time authors?

It made me wonder about self-publishing. I'm NOT interested in doing an Ebook.

Does anyone here have experience with book publishing?

No. This is a bad deal. You are being asked to negotiate back. Hire an agent if you need to. Ask for an advance up-front.

Here's what we did. I worked on a team that put together a book a few years back. We negotiated a deal to get $25k as an advance and something like $1-2 on every book sold after 25,000 copies. The publisher printed 25,000 copies of the book, sold 23,000 and never reprinted and sent the last 2000 of our books to a reseller company that sold them for $1 each. We got ZERO money in royalties and the only money we got was the advance.

Because I need to make myself clear sometimes, I am NOT complaining about the book deal. Being a published writer, even on a team and not solo, has been incredibly lucrative for me! However, beware that there is very little money in publishing so you could very easily see a royalty check of $1000 or less for your work if you don't ask for money upfront.

However, YMMV. If you need to google the company to check for fraud allegations then google them now. You don't say who they are so I don't know how legit they are.

Good Luck! I found publishing a book from a real publisher sold in stores and on Amazon to be very rewarding.