fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4018 ]

[ SECRET POST #4018 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4018 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Congratulations! Do you mind telling us what advance they're offering to new genre authors these days?

Not enough. The problem is that they aren't willing to invest in new authors. If you are willing to work on promoting yourself you can make more money self-publishing as a new author.

Yeah, I figured. Several years ago, someone did a survey and found that the average advance for first time authors publishing a genre novel was about $3,000. That's pretty sad.

Is that bad? I mean, that's like a month's pay for me, I'd take $3000...

DA.

As someone who is finishing edits on a book and planning an agent, I agree. $3,000 might not be a ton, but to me it is totally worth it. If you're good, and lucky, and people like your work after that you'll get more. That's just the first step. Hardly anyone gets paid a ton for their first steps into publishing.

That's what I thought, I mean, I've only sold one novella so it was only available in ebook and I got royalties and I'm pretty sure I've made maaaybe $50 bucks off it?

I feel like everything thinks writing a book with a 'big' publisher means huge money, but unless you're in the right place at the right time with something hugely marketable (ie JK Rowling), it's not true.

Especially not when you're a new author with no/a very small fanbase.

AYRT

Exactly. I'm not sure why people are so hung up on a living wage. Almost no one gets paid a living wage for a first-time book. I went to school and have a full time day job to pay the bills because it's a known fact that you don't quit your day job to write until you're making more writing than you are at your day job.

And that can take years! It's not a job where you can right out of the gate live off of. Just like how being an artist isn't. Or being a jewelry maker. Or a knitter. Or anything like that.

I honestly don't get why people think it would be a job where one book sold = living wage.

Well, yes. Because for most people, a novel represents a lot more than a month's work.

Agreed, but someone just getting their foot in the door is not going to have someone hand them a million dollar advance. It's not realistic.

Where did I say anything about a million dollar advance? Nobody in this thread has suggested that an unknown author is entitled to a million dollar advance. You do know there's a pretty wide range between $3000 and $1,000,000, right?

REALLY? There's a difference?!

All I'm saying is people are acting like $3000 isn't a lot of money. As an author and someone who works full time, to me $3000 is still a lot of money for an advance for someone just getting their foot in the door. $3000 is three months rent for me, that helps a LOT.

For the labor put into the work and the need to make a living wage off that labor? It's not a lot of money. (Unless you're cranking them out quicker than Chuck Tingle.)

No you're right, it's definitely not a living wage if you compare money to labour, but to be honest that's why I went to college and got a 'day job' too.

I love writing, I won't ever give it up, but it's not something I personally can expect to make a living wage off of (personally, because I write MM fiction and that's still not a huge market/isn't something that the big publishers are looking for).

Maybe because to some people, it isn't a lot of money. It depends on where they live and what the cost of living is there, what their economic situation is, their health, whether or not they have a day job, etc. If you have a decent day job, then 3k is a nice bonus. If you're trying to scrounge a living off just writing, then don't forget that the 3k doesn't just go toward rent, it might also have to cover rent, food, clothes, transportation, health insurance, any emergencies, etc. for the writer and any dependents they might have.

Keep in mind that authors who publish a novel per year are considered prolific. I mean real novel-length books, not 10K of crappy erotica. So imagine for a year's work, you get $3,000. Even if you tripled that amount, that's barely enough for one person to live on in most of the U.S.

But you don't get $3000 for a year's work. You get $3000 as an advance on the product of a year's work, with more to come if it actually sells. It's the money the publisher's giving you before they know how marketable your work actually is, or if anyone other than your ten best friends are actually going to buy it.

That's an average pulled from all publishers including small time ones so it skews low. The actual OP who is actually getting published by one of the top "Big Six" publishers would be more able to answer that question accurately.

If you want to make real money publishing and actually earn out your advance then a big six publisher is still the most viable option for that. And it's not true that publishers won't invest in new authors. They spend a huge amount on things that are invisible to the public but get books into bookshops, Publishers Weekly, etc. Yes, some self-publishers do earn a lot but most self-publishers sell in the low double digits.

Here is a thread about how trade publishing works for new authors:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?23709-Legit-publishers-for-new-authors

What's even sadder is that it's been that $3000 since at least the 90s.

Exactly. What a lot of people don't realize is that the pay rate for fiction writing hasn't increased very much over time, and it certainly hasn't increased to match inflation. Back in the 70s when you earned a couple hundred for a short story, that went a lot further than now, when you can possibly earn a couple hundred for a short story... IF you're lucky, because the market for short fiction has shrunk and supply exceeds demand.

That's why I sort of cringe when people go, "OMG, $3,000 for a novel is a lot of money why are people complaining?!?" It's attitudes like that that have contributed to writers getting the shaft. Publishers don't have to pay very much for the average novel because there are always writers who are desperate to give away their work for peanuts. Again, supply exceeds demand.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #4018 ]

no subject

Not OP but an author

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