Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Absolutely. But Ms Viehl and her agent may have told Publisher B to get bent.
Big advances are actually better in many ways for the author. Authors encourage it, if not request it, if not demand it. They get their money earlier; they don't have to wait months and months for the publisher to calculate and pay royalties; they don't have to pay back the remainder of the advance (afaik); and most importantly, the author gets bragging rights. 
The publisher is a bit more out of pocket. But they seem to go for it because it helps them attract and retain talent.
I'm not saying this is the best system. I'm saying that:
• "7 out of 10 books don't recoup their advance" says nothing meaningful about a title's profitability, or a book's publisher's efficiency. (on this point I assume we agree)
• I have yet to see anyone cite that particular stat (or a variant) as an indication thereof.
So, not really sure who exactly you are trying to correct here.... |
I'm not sure what to say here. Your initial post started out "If you were basing your claim on actual numbers, you might qualify as a myth-buster. However... " and from the tone, I thought you were disagreeing with my initial post. If that wasn't the case then I must have misunderstood you.