I remember reading, some time ago, that JK Rowling 'only' received £100K advance for her 2nd HP novel, (i.e. before she finished it).

What would constitute a reasonable publishing deal for a first time novelist?

Is there anyone out there who specialises in 'terms and conditions' for publishing contracts?


Thanks

Michael

Gosh - how long is a piece of string!

I think it totally depends on any number of factors - what genre you're publishing in, how big the publisher is, is there any competition involved, what rights are being offered.

It could be anything from 1k (or even nothing with some imprints) to 100k+, but basically it boils down to how much they want your book vs how much they can afford to pay.

Publishing advances are like gambles basically - if you think your horse is a sure thing you might put down a big stake. If it's very long odds then you would offer very little - sometimes nothing other than the costs involved in producing the book (Macmillan New Writing for example).

There's no amount that you're entitled to - no specific amount that is "reasonable".

On the other hand there are definitely some terms that could be UNreasonable, such as expecting authors to contribute to costs themselves (unless clearly advertised as a vanity press/self-publishing venture) or very punitive clauses tying the author into a particular press for a long time or something of that nature.

I suppose the "experts" would be literary agents or contract lawyers - although with the latter you really need a specialist because a contract lawyer can tell you about the contract as it stands in law, but they wouldn't be able to advise you about whether the royalty rates, rights deals etc were acceptable.

<Added>

By the way I've read in several places that JK's advance for her first Harry Potter was only 1.5k - which I suppose illustrates very neatly the spectrum of difference!

The very rough figures in Harry Bingham's Getting Published, which is new so since the recession are:

Niche fiction, literary or commercial £0-3000
Mainstream literary fiction £5-25,000
Mainstream commercial fiction £20-60,000

(Niche as in either a small house, or a book with a small market. Mainstream as in expected to grab a reasonable chunk of retail promotional space.)

BUT what you have to remember that the big majority of offers are in the lower end of those band. The higher end of each of these bands is "unusual and hard to achieve", as Harry points out.

Emma

Is there anyone out there who specialises in 'terms and conditions' for publishing contracts?

Have you been offered a contract? The best thing to do is to join the Society of Authors and get them to go over it with their legendary fine-toothed comb. They also have leaflets on what should and shouldn't be in a contract.

But if there's something specific, it's worth asking on here, since there's a lot of knowledge and experience spread around the WW members, one way and another...

(BTW, the fact that a book isn't finished isn't the reason an advance is an advance: it's how virtually all trade publishing deals work.)

Emma

legendary fine-toothed comb

Am I the only one to have found the legend of Zelda had more to offer?

Emma

I checked out the society of authors' website. This looks like a good lead - I'll follow it.

I haven't had an offer; I was advised by a friend of mine to submit my work to his publisher. My friend was Editor of one of our national newspapers, he has had three books published so his advise is not to be sniffed at - but I'm not yet ready to bare all...

Thanks
Michael