I'd prefer to keep my own specific offer private for now, but it included an advance and a set of escalating royalty rates (X% for the first Y copies sold, Z% after that, etc.). I was also told that the book would be issued in paperback right away and the list price they would be aiming for. I considered the Princeton offer excellent because it was a relatively high advance (for an academic book), and a decent royalty rate (for an academic book). Keep in mind that an advance is really an advance on royalties, so I won't see any more money until my book sells enough copies for me to "earn out" the advance. I think "good" is totally relative - what's good for one person and one project may not be for another. I said I considered my offer to be excellent because to me it communicated very strong interest in my project, but of course you can get that kind of interest without an advance attached at the beginning. So it's really tough to compare without considering all the specific factors of the case. Hope this helps a little though!
Absolutely helps. Maybe a future post could discuss "hypothetical" numbers, as I imagine publishers would prefer to keep those numbers private. That said, for academic presses, what is typical royalty range? (and way to go on the advance... Im guessing that is rare-ish?) Maybe you can run an anonymous poll?
A poll is a good idea - maybe I'll do that on Twitter. I can tell you based on my clients who have reported back to me that some have gotten between $1000–$5000 for first books, though no advance is much more common. Bigger names have gotten up to $7500 for later-career books. Sometimes that advance money is sort of earmarked for indexing or graphic design or developmental editing, though I'm sure it's left up to the author to spend it as they wish after the check is cut. As far as royalty percentages, it can vary depending on paperback vs. hardback vs. ebook and on type of publisher. Commercial academic publishers tend to be lower (my first book with Bloomsbury had a 5% royalty rate or something very low like that). I think 7.5–12% is more common for university presses, though again, I'm sure it varies. Those percentages are all based on net profits; in trade publishing the percentage can be based on list price but that's not common at all in scholarly publishing.
What exactly is a good or excellent offer? ie. "...excellent offer from Princeton." I certainly would like to know what an offer actually entails.
I'd prefer to keep my own specific offer private for now, but it included an advance and a set of escalating royalty rates (X% for the first Y copies sold, Z% after that, etc.). I was also told that the book would be issued in paperback right away and the list price they would be aiming for. I considered the Princeton offer excellent because it was a relatively high advance (for an academic book), and a decent royalty rate (for an academic book). Keep in mind that an advance is really an advance on royalties, so I won't see any more money until my book sells enough copies for me to "earn out" the advance. I think "good" is totally relative - what's good for one person and one project may not be for another. I said I considered my offer to be excellent because to me it communicated very strong interest in my project, but of course you can get that kind of interest without an advance attached at the beginning. So it's really tough to compare without considering all the specific factors of the case. Hope this helps a little though!
Absolutely helps. Maybe a future post could discuss "hypothetical" numbers, as I imagine publishers would prefer to keep those numbers private. That said, for academic presses, what is typical royalty range? (and way to go on the advance... Im guessing that is rare-ish?) Maybe you can run an anonymous poll?
A poll is a good idea - maybe I'll do that on Twitter. I can tell you based on my clients who have reported back to me that some have gotten between $1000–$5000 for first books, though no advance is much more common. Bigger names have gotten up to $7500 for later-career books. Sometimes that advance money is sort of earmarked for indexing or graphic design or developmental editing, though I'm sure it's left up to the author to spend it as they wish after the check is cut. As far as royalty percentages, it can vary depending on paperback vs. hardback vs. ebook and on type of publisher. Commercial academic publishers tend to be lower (my first book with Bloomsbury had a 5% royalty rate or something very low like that). I think 7.5–12% is more common for university presses, though again, I'm sure it varies. Those percentages are all based on net profits; in trade publishing the percentage can be based on list price but that's not common at all in scholarly publishing.
Thanks for sharing - this is very useful information and exactly the sort of demystifying of academia I appreciate!