Author Marketing: The Economics of Publishing, Part One - Author Advances

If you are someone who has chosen to be a writer, you surely spend a lot of time working on your craft. It is an art, after all, and you probably find yourself spending more time flexing your creative muscles and less time thinking about the business side of the profession: Publishing.

If you have completed a book, congratulations are certainly in order. We would rather not discourage you by sharing the statistics, but a very small portion of people who start a book actually finish it, and an even smaller fraction of those who have finished actually succeed in getting it published.

But let's not get carried away just yet. Finishing a book is wonderful. Honor yourself and your accomplishment, but remember you have only just completed the first leg of your journey. There are still many miles to go before you can relax. Ultimately, you want to share your work with the world, to see your name in print, and to touch people's lives with your words and your wisdom. This is why you became a writer. It is a remarkable undertaking and there will be many decisions to make along the way. Chances are you have done a little preliminary searching and you may be asking yourself this question:

Do I want to work with a traditional publisher or an assisted self-publishing press?

While there are a myriad of things to consider, an important aspect of business is economics. So let's use that other side of the brain for a bit and talk numbers. A big publishing company offers authors an advance for their manuscript, while assisted self-publishing companies generally provide author services in package form. In other words, the author is paying the company to work on the book. Well, most people want to make money rather than spend it, but let's delve a little deeper, shall we?

Author advances have dropped drastically from the good ol' days before the recession. Today, an unknown author may receive anywhere from $1,000-$5,000 for their first book. Let's be optimistic and say you get $5,000. Your agent (and you will most likely have an agent; about 70% of authors who are accepted for publication have an agent) receives a cut, about 15%. So you can already kiss $750 goodbye. As a writer, you are a freelancer and technically self-employed which means you pay a higher tax rate (without benefits like health insurance) than if you were working at a full-time job. This will vary state to state but federally on average, Americans pay 18-19%. So you would want to factor in something much higher. So, let's say, if you are lucky, you have $2,500 left over. Not bad, but let's hold on to that day job.

Also, let's keep in mind that getting an advance is like taking out a loan. You have to pay it all back before you can earn any real money. An assisted self-publisher may ask you to purchase editing services before the book goes to print, but in the end, this will only benefit your work. Many companies, like Spirited Press, allow you to retain the rights so at any point in time, you can publish it elsewhere. Even if you don't, your work will always remain yours. By choosing assisted self-publishing with Spirited Press, you gain the expertise of professionals without having to sell your work outright. Essentially you have hired them to assist in areas where you could be stronger, whether it is proofreading or promotions. You are still in control of what happens after that.

Consider this scenario: you self-publish your first book and it gains a lot of traction, attracting the big publishers. If you already have a name, you have negotiating power. You are no longer an unknown author; people are already buying your books! You get a contract with terms that work for you and you go on being successful. (Sylvia Day originally self-published her novel "Bared to You," currently a NY Times Bestseller.) On the other hand, if this doesn't happen, you still own a professionally crafted book, (that will always have earning potential as long as it stays on the market) and you don't owe anyone any money.

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