May 14, 2007
Standard Contract Terms
‘Guesswork’ forms big part in conjuring up a best-selling book, by Shira Boss
Does anyone know what percentage of sales or profits (?) an author typically gets under “standard contract terms” ?
To make money, the industry depends on perennial sellers and on best sellers. It is not so much the almost sure-fire best sellers by the well-known authors, because those cost so much to acquire and market, but the surprise best sellers. Those include books like “Prep,” “The Nanny Diaries” (bought for $25,000, it sold more than four million copies), “Marley and Me” (bought for $200,000, sold 2.5 million copies) and “The Secret” (bought for less than $250,000, sold 5.25 million copies in less than six months).”
How much money did the author of “Marley and Me” make in addition to the $200,000 advance if the book did $5 million in sales? Any guesses?
May 14th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Well the numbers seem low because if there were 2.5 million units sold with $5 million in sales then the average book price was $2.50, which seems a little low but I only have my U.S. view on cost of books.
But using a rather standard 10% royalty per copy sold I would say that he made $500,000. Which may or may not be reduced by the advance.
Typical royalty structure is anywhere from 5-15% of the sale price of a book depending on disocunt publisher gives to book sellers. See
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/12-23-2005-84748.asp
Makes you want to stop reading them and try writing, huh?
May 14th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
So my final answer is $700,000 royalty + advance.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Steven: Thanks for the estimate and link. I meant $50 million in sales, not $5 million, oops. But I really have no idea what the average sales price per copy would be (no idea how that 2.5 million breaks down into hardcover versus paperback).
May 14th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Ok. $50 million sounds better, puts average price of the book at $20. Which when you factor in retail like Borders and wholesale like Amazon and Costco sounds about right. So my final final answer would be $5 million (10% of $50 mil) + advance.
now i really want to stop reading and write instead..lol.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Steven: $20 is probably on the high side. Let’s split the difference and say $10, so the author made $2.5 million in addition to the $200,000 advance, all pre-tax of course. ;-)
May 15th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Yeah so when you are ready let me know, I can take your archive and turn it into a book in about a week :).
Longer if you want me to actually edit it…LOL.
May 16th, 2007 at 1:27 am
For the average author, it’s 2%. Paltry.
May 16th, 2007 at 7:54 am
len: 2% of sales? So $1 million to the author on $50 million in sales? Doesn’t that seem low?
May 18th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Extraordinarily low. But that is standard for a rookie author - the ones discounted at local Barnes & Nobles, not the Stephen Kings or James Pattersons of the world. They, of course, can dictate more of a meal ticket arrangement.
Plus, if there is an advance, that must be earned out before additional royalties are paid . . .