Academic Authors ... do they get advances?

ezc_19

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Hey everyone,

Just wondering if academic authors get advances on their work? For example, if you signed a contract with the U. of Chicago Press, would they give you money before the book is released.

I assume not, simply because the level of sales aren't usually the same as commercials books, but I thought I would ask anyway. Thanks.
 

Marlys

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My husband has several books published with academic presses. He was only once offered a small advance, but that was specifically so he could secure rights to some pictures he wanted to use.
 

robjvargas

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I would imagine not. Not a large enough market to merit the risk, I think.

But if it's truly academic, there are grants, fellowships, etc, that you can apply for to fund the research time you need to develop the book.
 

Maryn

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Mr. Maryn did not. Sales of academic books are generally anticipated to be quite small. Although he still gets the occasional royalty check, it's tiny.

Maryn
 

Larry M

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My Dad wrote a college chemistry textbook some years ago, and he did receive a small advance from MacMillan.
 

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First, you need to make a distinction between academic (which means textbooks and related content) and scholarly.

Academic contracts do usually have at least a token advance (often as noted earlier to pay for rights). A text book that is widely adopted can offer very nice royalties, especially if it has multiple editions. Royalties for textbooks are all over the map, and may be based on percentage of the actual text you are personally responsible for. Negotiate fiercely or find an experienced reputable agent. Editors may also receive a flat stipend.

Scholarly contracts rarely include advances unless they are specifically for rights, but it's not impossible for an established scholar with a good publication record and major awards (Carnegie Mellon, NHI, NSF, Guggenheim, etc.)
 

girlyswot

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That's true. I see academic and assume scholarly. But of course there's a much bigger academic market than just PhD's-turned-monographs sold for silly prices that only libraries will pay. School textbooks is a completely different market.
 

veinglory

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Plenty of textbook publishers and university presses also do not pay advances and have other non-payment norms. I am about to lose a book deal with one because they refuse to pay the chapter authors at all, not even a token payment. They'd accepted the proposal before this little detail came up and seem boggled that I think the writers of the material should get paid.
 
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ezc_19

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Thanks for the replies everyone! Your thoughts/experiences are in line with what I expected.
 

Jamesaritchie

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It's more abut the publisher than the book. Small publishers generally pay little or nothing. Big ones generally pay pretty well.
 

filwi

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Over here not only won't you get paid, it's quite likely that the publisher will require that you've got a "print scholarship", that is that your faculty, institution or some outside foundation, steps in and takes part or all of the printing consts.

When I tried the "money should flow towards the author" approach I got a mixture of laughter and unbelieving stares (as in "how dumb is this guy").

And this is from pretty big (around here at least, impossible to compare to English language markets) publishers.

Of course, I heard of one researcher who had a wildly successful book published getting in the vicinity of $2000/year in royalties from it, so it is possible to get money even here.
 

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If it's a textbook (aimed at students) or a general/popular science type book (aimed at patients or the general readership), then yes, an advance and possibly royalties, although quite often the money will go to the author's university rather than personally to the author. If it's a monograph, a scholarly work, or something really specialised, then as filwi said the author's university is quite often expected to subsidise the publishing costs.
 

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I co-authored a book published by a major academic house. Our book is critically acclaimed in several national magazines as well as in academic journals. The book is available in libraries throughout the world but it costs $85 on amazon so not affordable for most readers. My co-authors and I have not made one cent on it. This is my second academic book. I don't know of any colleagues who have made any significant money off of successful academic books.
 

oceansoul

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It really depends on the discipline. Science and medical publications are much more likely to receive an advance than those in the social sciences or humanities.