HarperCollins Announces…
I’m a news junkie. Usually the first websites I log onto in the morning are news-oriented. And look what I found today….which I am sure will be all over the internet (in the writing world, anyway):
HarperCollins announces…no more advances!
That’s right. HarperCollins is starting something new for the big traditional publishing houses. There wasn’t a heck of a lot of detail. I’m hoping more will come out later on. But in the meantime I find it fascinating that they might be following what has worked for so many ePubs. No advances (although there is at least one, eRed Sage, who does offer advances). Books without a returns policy (which may mean they are planning on doing some kind of pub-on-demand thing). And an interest in taking on new, untried authors.
That last part interested me. I’ve worked with ‘no advances’ before. And if you are used to writing a book without knowing whether or not it will sell, it’s really not that big of a deal. You *do* get paid, but only based on your sales…so there is more of an incentive to promote yourself. Plus, in this type of scenario, you also get a bigger cut of the pie…usually 35 to 40% of the sales price.
I find it exciting that bigger publishers are starting to move into the 21st century. It may not make the big guys happy - the authors who are used to big advances and such - but this system will work very well for new authors that a bigger publisher was afraid to take on due to the risk involved. You pay an advance, you don’t get that money back. So if the book fails to sell as hoped, the publisher can lose money.
Anyone else want to chime in on this interesting development?
Kris
April 4th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Very, very interesting. But I will withhold judgement right now.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I’m just interested to find out the details and how it will work. Always interesting when a big publisher does something radically different from the traditional business model.
Thanks for the comment, Lia!
Kris
April 4th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I’ve since found more details on the topic…from Publisher’s Lunch. Looks like this will be for nonfiction books only. Which is a bit of a bummer. However, I’m thinking if it becomes a successful model, it may branch out into fiction or other publishers might try something similar.
Kris
April 4th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
It’s a weird world, this publishing thing. I have several friends who make a decent living writing, but the bulk of that income is from their advances. I like making a higher royalty percentage and I like not having to worry about making back my advance, but still, I have to admit that the biggest lure to reach for print and NY for me, is the advance.
I’d like to make a little more money because I do this writing thing full time, but to be honest, I’m extremely happy writing what I write for who I write it, advance or not.
April 4th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I agree, Samantha. I’d love the security an NY advance would give me. It also is validation in a way that you are ‘worth’ something to a publisher.
But I do enjoy the epub system where I get paid a higher percentage and have the opportunity to make a decent amount of money, depending on how much work I put into promoting myself. Also, there is the niceness of getting a monthly royalty check!
Tradtional publishing, you have to wait eons to be paid sometimes. Slow as molasses.
Thanks for stopping by!
Kris