Is It a Good Deal?

For the first edition of my book How To Be Your Own Literary Agent I produced a down-and-dirty precis of book contract terms, "Is It a Good Deal?" This synopsis was intended for use as a handy reference when immediate action is called for, such as a surprise phone call with an offer from a publisher to whom you submitted your manuscript so long ago you'd forgotten about it. I urged authors to practice reading the guidelines with one hand cupped over the telephone receiver while their family jumps up and down shrieking, "They’re buying the book! They’re buying the book!"

Since then I've received many calls and emails from authors thanking me for this synopsis, but here's the odd thing. Since 1983, when the first edition was published, I've scarcely changed a thing! Sure, I added electronic rights to one of the updates. I also raised the bar a notch for trade and mass market paperback royalties, reflecting a shift (I'm happy to report) from a buyer's market to a seller's.

But advances? Each time my publisher requested an update (the most recent was 2003) I was asked if advances had risen since 1983. The answer was no. And here, 26 years later, that's still my answer and I'm sticking to it.

Read the summary below and then let's talk.

Richard Curtis
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Hardcover

A Poor Hardcover Deal

• Publisher gets world rights in all languages.
• Publisher controls movie, television, electronic and multimedia rights.
• Advance under $5000.
• Royalties under 10 percent on first 5000 copies sold, 12 1/2 percent on next 5000, 15 percent thereafter.*
• Publisher gets more than 25 percent of British and translation licensing revenue.
• Publisher gets more than 10 percent of first-serial, movie, television, and multimedia revenue.
• Publisher gets more than 50 percent of reprint, electronic, book-club, and other primary subsidiary-rights revenue.
  

* All royalties in these examples are based on the list price of the book. If your publisher’s royalty structure is based on net receipts instead of list prices, double the royalty percentages given here. In other words, a 10% royalty based on the list price should be a 20% royalty based on the net.

A Fair hardcover Deal

• Publisher gets English-language rights in United States, its territories and possessions, Philippine Islands, and Canada.
• Publisher does not control movie, television, electronic and multimedia rights. Publisher may control first-serial, British, and foreign-translation rights if author has no agent. Otherwise, these are reserved by author.
• Advance between $5000 and $10,000.
• Royalties at least 10 percent on first 5000 copies sold, 12 1/2 percent on next 5000, 15 percent thereafter.
• If publisher does control first-serial rights, it gets no more than 10 percent of revenue.
• If publisher does control British and foreign-translation rights, it gets no more than 25 percent of revenue.
• Publisher does not participate in movie, television, electronic or multimedia revenue.
• Publisher gets no more than 50 percent of reprint, book-club, and other subsidiary-rights revenue.
  

A Good Hardcover Deal

• Publisher gets English-language rights in United States, its territories and possessions, Philippine Islands, and Canada.
• Publisher does not control movie, television, electronic and multimedia rights. Publisher may control first-serial, British, and foreign-translation rights if author has no agent. Otherwise these are reserved by author.
• Advance over $10,000.
• Royalties better than 10 percent on first 5000 copies sold, 12 1/2 percent on next 5000, 15 percent thereafter.
• If publisher does control first-serial rights, it gets no more than 10 percent of revenue, and passes author’s share to author upon publisher’s receipt.
• If publisher does control British and foreign-translation rights, it gets no more than 25 percent of revenue, and passes author’s share to author upon publisher’s receipt.
• Publisher does not participate in movie, television, electronic or multimedia revenue.
• Publisher gets less than 50 percent of reprint, book-club, and other primary subsidiary-rights revenue, and passes author’s share to author upon publisher’s receipt after publisher has recouped advance.

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Trade Paperback

A Poor Trade Paperback Deal

Same as poor hardcover deal, except royalties are less than a straight 7 1/2 percent .

A Fair Trade Paperback Deal

Same as fair hardcover deal, except royalties are at least a straight 7 1/2 percent/

A Good Trade Paperback Deal

Same as good hardcover deal, except royalties are better than a straight 7 1/2 percent.

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Mass-Market Paperback

A Poor Mass-Market Paperback Deal

Same as poor hardcover deal, except royalties are less than 8 percent on first 150,000 copies sold, 10 percent thereafter.

A Fair Mass-Market Paperback Deal

Same as fair hardcover deal, except royalties are at least 8 percent on first 150,000 copies sold, 10 percent thereafter.

A Good Mass-Market Paperback Deal
Same as good hardcover deal, except royalties are better than 8 percent on first 150,000 copies sold, 10 percent thereafter.

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In the last few years, as the publishing marketplace contracted, many agents have complained that the lot of authors is getting harder and harder. In particular, they say, publishers are reducing advances for all but superstars, who are getting higher advances than ever before. What's fascinating is the way some of them define "average". Here's an example from an October 2008 blog on Publexicon.com:

Super-agent Richard Abate with the Endeavor Talent Agency believes that publishers are trending toward acquiring books by celebrities, books that will command six-figure advances as opposed to the midlist advance of approximately $50,000, give or take. Athletes, movie stars, and just about anyone who is mega-famous will get the ear of agents, such as Tina Fey, who is reputed to have signed a book deal for $6,000,000. [Italics mine]

I suspect that if I were to poll authors who consider themselves "midlist", most of them would feel they'd died and gone to heaven to get $50,000 advance for their books. The fact is that in most fiction genres such as romance, science fiction and mysteries the starting pay is still in the four-figure range (not counting decimal points, thank heaven), and it stays there for quite a number of books until (and unless) the author's royalties justify increases to five-figures and beyond. Mainstream fiction and nonfiction is a little harder to categorize but here too I'd be surprised to learn that the average debut novel garners anything close to super-agent Abate's figure, which in any event refers to celebrity books. And we all know that celebrities are not made of the same stuff as common mortals such as professional writers.

And so, reluctantly and sadly, I have to stand by the figure stated in my 1983 book, a figure made even sadder because inflation has reduced it by more than 50% according to one calculation.

Richard Curtis

This material was originally written for Locus, The Newspaper of the Science Fiction Field. It's reprinted in How to be Your Own Literary Agent, published by Houghton Mifflin, Copyright © 1983, 1984, 1996, 2003 by Richard Curtis. All Rights Reserved.