Have you ever received an advance on a book?

I received an advance on BRASS STARS (the novella linked in my sig). It was small, but it was an advance. At the time I received the contract on BRASS STARS, I did not have an agent (although I do now), but I made a point of approaching publishers that offered advances.

Some publishers (especially the small and e-pub variety) do not offer advances even for agented authors. So, if you are submitting to places that offer no advance, you are unlikely to get one.

I've received advances on 4 novels and 5 novellas in the past three years. Yes, publishers do still pay advances.

I've received three--two substantial and one in the high three-digits from a small press. An agent can work in your favor, especially for getting the advance amount up there.

tri

I was offered one last year but ultimately turned the offer down.

Sure I've received an advance. What kind of writing does your friend do?

alaskadude said:

I am putting the finishing touches on a book. Have you ever received an advance on a book you sold? Everything I read says an agent will get me an advance. But, on the other hand, I have a friend that writes books for a living, and he said he has never received an advance.
Have you ever received an advance?

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Always, when I was writing the book as the author of record.

When I've ghost written or done work for hire, I received a negotiated fee, and signed over all rights.

That said, my fee was equivalent to or higher than the advance I'd expect.

alaskadude said:

He writes a monthly feature article for a fairly large magazine, but now that I read answers to this thread I realized the books he writes are contracted out.

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Also, magazine work is a horse of a different color.

There are all kinds of quirks and structures peculiar to different ways of writing-for-a-living. One model of novel publishing has an advance against royalties paid up front, and the royalty payments continue in their terms if and when the book earns back enough in royalties to cover the advance.

It's a common model, but by no means the only.

alaskadude said:

I am putting the finishing touches on a book. Have you ever received an advance on a book you sold? Everything I read says an agent will get me an advance.

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You're getting the horse waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in front of the cart. "Putting the finishing touches on a book"? Well, finish the damthing.

Then you gotta convince an agent to take it on as a sales rep.

Then the agent has to convince a publisher to take it on as a viable commercial product.

Then, and only then, should you get concerned about getting an advance.

caw

blacbird said:

You're getting the horse waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in front of the cart. "Putting the finishing touches on a book"? Well, finish the damthing.

Then you gotta convince an agent to take it on as a sales rep.

Then the agent has to convince a publisher to take it on as a viable commercial product.

Then, and only then, should you get concerned about getting an advance.

caw

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I think it's a valid question regardless. Why would you want to wait until you have an agent who is submitting your book to give any consideration to the financial side of things? IMHO it would be better to go into the process with as much understanding of how the business works as possible.

aus10phile said:

I think it's a valid question regardless. Why would you want to wait until you have an agent who is submitting your book to give any consideration to the financial side of things? IMHO it would be better to go into the process with as much understanding of how the business works as possible.

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I agree. I think it's a good idea to research everything before even starting the process. It gives you an idea of what to look for and makes you more prepared.

alaskadude said:

I am putting the finishing touches on a book. Have you ever received an advance on a book you sold? Everything I read says an agent will get me an advance. But, on the other hand, I have a friend that writes books for a living, and he said he has never received an advance.
Have you ever received an advance?

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If your friend has never received an advance, he's writing for some tiny, tiny publishers. I've received an advance for every book I've written. Even mid-sized publishers all offer an advance. So do many fairly small publishers.

Contracted books can be different, depending on what you mean by "contracted", but I've ghosted a few books for publishers, and written a couple for in house lines, and I received advances for those, too.

I can't conceive of ever writing a book that won't draw some kind of advance. If your friend isn't receiving an advance for books people want him to write for them, he's going about it in a very unusual manner. It doesn't matter who I write a book for, I get an advance.

The purpose of an advance is to keep you in money until either royalties start coming in, or until you find another project that also pays an advance.

alaskadude said:

I am putting the finishing touches on a book. Have you ever received an advance on a book you sold? Everything I read says an agent will get me an advance. But, on the other hand, I have a friend that writes books for a living, and he said he has never received an advance.
Have you ever received an advance?

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Your friend might not have ever received an advance, but that doesn't mean that no writers do.

If he's published through reputable trade publishers, I'd say he's in the minority.

Medievalist said:

Always, when I was writing the book as the author of record.

When I've ghost written or done work for hire, I received a negotiated fee, and signed over all rights.

That said, my fee was equivalent to or higher than the advance I'd expect.

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This is mostly true for me too, Medi. I do have a few ghosted books out there on which I was paid royalties and retained a few rights but in general, my experience matches yours.

Yes, my friend recently got a six-figure advance for his debut novel trilogy. It's coming out in 3 months!

Another one cleared a million dollar advance a few years ago. That was... well, that was pretty WOW. Mind you, her previous fantasy trilogy had sold like hot-cakes.

I've received advances on all of my book (20 of them now, with more contracted.) It's absolutely possible, but it takes time and effort on your part. Don't take shortcuts or feel the need to rush the process. If the quality is there, publishers will pay you.

alaskadude said:

It is a valid question. It isn't actually necessary for me to get an advance. I have a job. I was just asking. I have about 20 books about publishing, proposals, writing a query. Im trying to figure it all out. I was just asking a question. As I said, my friend has never received an advance on a book. I think that is because he is paid a lump sum to finish the project. On the other hand, he just said he never received an advance in passing. I have no idea what he meant, really, and didn't poke too far into his private affairs.
I'm pretty green about the publishing world. I was just asking if I might get an advance...if I find an agent, if I have my book published. Its a 90,000 word book about the Himalayas. I'm not planning to quit my day job.
Sheesh...!

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There's no need to start sheeshing at us, Mr Dude. We're discussing, that's all. It's what we do here.

Let's not get worked up about such small things, ok?

This may seem as a naive question, but how do advances work? Is the figure something the publisher predicts the author to sell? What if the author sells below that figure? Do you get your usual royalties?
Ive never had advances but a friend of mine was able to put money on an apartment with hers. I have subbed to some pubs who offer them and just curious.

kelliewallace said:

This may seem as a naive question, but how do advances work? Is the figure something the publisher predicts the author to sell?

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Advances are usually based on the number of copies the publisher thinks the book will sell. If it's a potentially big book they'll increase their marketing and promotion budget to help ensure that the sales are high.

What if the author sells below that figure? Do you get your usual royalties?

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An advance is an advance against royalties. So if the publisher thinks your book will sell 20,000 copies they'll work out how much that means in royalties, and that amount will be your advance (that's over-simplified but it gives you an idea). Then you'll not receive any further payments until your book has sold those 20,000 copies, because you've already been paid for them.

If your book then sells more copies you'll start receiving royalty cheques: they're usually paid twice a year by the bigger publishers who focus on print sales, but publishers which specialise in e-books usually pay them more frequently.

If your book sells fewer than those 20,000 copies you'll not receive any royalty payments--but you won't have to pay back any of your advance unless you signed with a shonky publisher.

Ive never had advances but a friend of mine was able to put money on an apartment with hers. I have subbed to some pubs who offer them and just curious.

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Some publishers pay no advances. Some pay token advances. Bigger publishers tend to pay bigger advances, especially to authors of books they think are going to be big.

If you have an agent you're likely to be paid bigger advances.

Thanks, Old Hack. That makes a lot more sense

Oh btw, do I have your permission to put your answer on my blog? Might help other authors who stumble across me