Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
As far as I know, none of the writers published by Baen are requesting / demanding /getting the same kinds of advances and royalties as a best-selling author, and hopefully they don't get sued as often either.  |
Advances are pegged on the publisher's best guess of how well a book will sell, as it it technically an advance against royalties. Royalties tend to be fairly standard, and start accruing
after the book has sold enough copies to cover the advance.
Many (probably most) writers never see actual royalties. The agent wants to negotiate a high enough advance that the book
won't "earn out" and generate royalties beyond the advance.
Exactly what terms a Baen author gets will be between the author, author's agent, and Baen. We can assume that David Weber, for example, whose Honor Harrington novels are hitting the New York Times best seller list, will get a better deal than a first author, but generally, Baen authors seem happy enough with their treatment.
Baen is a mid-range action/adventure SF/fantasy house, so I think people writing for it are moderate in their expectations. They know they aren't going to get Dan Brown sales numbers.
And fat contracts are two edged swords. An old friend with no reason to lie about it claims to have seen the numbers and says
no publisher makes money on Steven King. King's contract is so good that what would have been publisher profit goes into his pocket.
______
Dennis