so authors used to get more money up fron then they do now? Why did they get more up front? I would think that only a small % of releases are big hits, many do ok, and then a significant number bomb out or have low sales. A book can be good quality and still not sell well.
Are there just more books published now?
so this guy eidon got a 6 book deal having NEVER published before with $100,000/book up front or $600,000? I can see that kind of money or more if you are famous and writing a first book (see Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton), but what fan base does this guy have?
I would also think that alot of selling a new author is the author's willingness and ability to market themselves on top of the publisher.
I get the impression now that first time authors generally get 1 book deals with maybe a $10k advance. This way the publisher can find out if the guy can sell books. Then once they prove themselves they more. I am sure Robert Jordan got big advances for his books after they became hits. I would bet that Stephen King probably gets upward of $1 million advance/book.
Id say yes, the average advance was higher before. Think about Eldon. Terry Brooks essentially handed Eldon's manuscript to the publisher saying "this is awesome like I am." The Newcomb was similar to piggyback on Goodkind's success. When, as a publisher, you have huge failures like that, you start changing your advances. Mix this with the economy, and yeah, advances for new authors, I imagine, are significantly lower. In both these cases, the novels were marketed to take advantage of existing fan bases, and erroneously based on existing sales for established similar authors.
Jordan got more than a million. Stephen King gets far more than a million a book. And his very first advance was huge as well.
Yeah, being published is tough, especially in this current industry. But those are the risks. I'll accept them gladly.
