Every so often, I say something to a friend about publishing that causes them to stare at me, confused. More than often, that reaction is followed with some variation of “Wait, what?” or “Oh, that’s how it works?” It’s usually around then I remember that right, not everyone knows that and even a few years ago when I was an aspiring writer and was searching for information about publishing—how royalties work, how writers got paid, what translations are, etc—I didn’t know a sixth of what I know now. And that wasn’t for a lack of trying.
Like any industry, publishing loves its secrets, and it can be hard to find correct information about it online. Usually, the people who know the most are blocked from being easily contacted concerning these questions: author, agent, editor, etc. So, to try and help those who are coming up after me, I wanted to write a very clear, no-nonsense explanation about one of the most important aspects: How Writers Get Paid.
For simplicity’s sake, this is going to only be about traditional publishing. The big five—four if S&S ever successfully sells itself—to be exact. I’m also going to make some other assumptions for clarity’s sake. So, let’s start with the basics. Two fictional writers, Michael Kingman and Serena Hollow, will serve as my stand ins for this. They bear no semblance or correlation to any author, living or dead, and are entirely made up for this presentation. All right, disclaimer done. Anyway. Both have acquired agents, and both have successfully sold their books to a big five publishing company for World English Rights (This refers to the ability to publish the book in all territories agreed upon in English opposed to things such as North American English Rights and United Kingdom English Rights).
Michael has sold his novel and subsequent two novels in his trilogy for $30,000 while Serena went to auction and sold her novel and subsequent two novels in her trilogy for $300,000. Both are ecstatic, but also, wondering when they’ll get paid. And to be frank, it entirely depends on how good of a deal they got, who they published under, and what relationships their agencies already had with said publishers. Fun, right?
So, let’s first determine what it means to sell a novel for money. When an author sells their novel (or novels) they are paid what is commonly referred to as an “advance”. This is an advance against what the publisher thinks that book (or series) will make in the future. Think of it like a bet. They’re betting about how popular, or not popular, they think it’s going to be. But it’s also a loan. One writers aren’t expected to pay back if they fall under the expectations because every percentage of what a writer makes on a book goes to paying back the advance rather than directly to them. If a writer earns more from their book than what they were paid for in an advance, it’s called “earning out.” Which means any money made from their percentage of the book’s sales after that will directly go to the author rather than to paying back the advance. But that’s the future after a book has been published and, frankly, likely published for a few years at the earliest. Many authors never earn out their advance for a variety of reasons.
(Note: Earning out is a little more complicated than this depending on whether each individual book has to earn out with its own sales, or the books have been merged into one conglomerative of sales, but that’s a whole separate discussion.)
So, the advance. Michael’s advance for 3 novels was $30,000 while Serena’s was $300,000. How do they get this money? Well, like I said, it depends on how good of a deal they got during the contract negotiations. Commonly, there are three payment plans an author will get: dual, triple, and quad.
I’m also going to have to drop another note down here before I begin. For simplicities sake, I am choosing specifics milestones in an author’s career and publishing journey for them to get paid at. This is not a “This is how it’s done” and more of an example of how it could be done. I have not worked with every publisher, and cannot speak for every publisher, but conversations with fellow writers about this sort of stuff has left me confident that this example is common enough to be used as an example. Agents, who I fully believe earn their cut and more, are the experts in this field and any questions a writer has can be answered by them should they sign with one.
Back to the money. A dual payment plan is when an author gets their money at two distinct times. Half usually on signing the contract and then one third of that remaining half each time they deliver a book, and it is accepted. (What it means to deliver a book will depend on each publisher. But, to my knowledge, it means when the book is an acceptable state for publishing. Which is also why they must accept it. Sending in 150,000 words of Dragonball Z fanfiction will likely not get the money released if they were expecting a 150,000-word novel about a pathological liar set in 1920s Thailand.)
(Extra-extra note: I am boiling all of this down to the most basic assumptions to make it easy to understand. Contracts and specifics may vary. Cool? Cool.)
So, let’s do the math for both Michael and Serena assuming they have this option.
Michael will earn $15,000 upon signing his contract. And then get $5000 each time he hands in his novels.
Serena will earn $150,000 upon signing his contract. And then she’ll get $50,000 each time she hands in her novels.
Let’s assume this is over a three-year period from 2023-2025 when his three books are published. Michael’s earnings might look like this:
· $15,000 in 2022 (Half of the contract) (Let’s also assume he signed it the year before since publishing is very rarely quick)
· $5000 in 2022 (When book #1 is accepted) (Let’s say later half of the year)
· $5000 in 2023 (When book #2 is accepted)
· $5000 in 2024 (When book #3 is accepted)
Now, for Serena:
· $150,000 in 2022 (Half of the contract) (Let’s also assume he signed it the year before since publishing is very rarely quick)
· $50,000 in 2022 (When book #1 is accepted) (Let’s say later half of the year)
· $50,000 in 2023 (When book #2 is accepted)
· $50,000 in 2024 (When book #3 is accepted)
When you look at it like that—that’s pretty good. That’s orderly and consistent. But a dual payment option is the best it can get for a writer. They get their money quickly and without too much hassle. But since this kind of payment method is the best, it’s also the hardest to get. If, while negotiating, an author didn’t have much leverage or have an agent with a boiler plate (the standard contract they sign with a publisher) with this payment method already established then they likely won’t get it. They’ll be paid in accordance with another method. One that releases the money slower and is more favorable for the publisher.
Now let’s go to the three-payment method. First, they still get paid half their contract on signing. Next, they get a sixth of their money upon delivering each book and then another sixth when that book publishes. Michael and Serena would look like this:
Michael will earn $15,000 upon signing his contract. And then get $2500 each time he hands in one of his novels and then another $2500 when that book is officially published.
Serena will get $150,000 upon signing her contract. And then get $25,000 each time she hands in her novel and then another $25,000 each time it’s officially published.
Again, let’s assume this is over a three-year period from 2023-2025 when his three books are published. Michael’s earnings might look like this:
· $15,000 in 2022 (Half of the contract) (Let’s also assume he signed it the year before since publishing is very rarely quick)
· $2500 in 2022 (When book #1 is accepted) (Let’s say later half of the year)
· $5000 in 2023 (When book #2 is accepted, and book #1 is published)
· $5000 in 2024 (When book #3 is accepted, and book #2 is published)
· $2500 in 2025 (When book #3 is published)
And now for Serena:
· $150,000 in 2022 (Half of the contract) (Let’s also assume he signed it the year before since publishing is very rarely quick)
· $25,000 in 2022 (When book #1 is accepted) (Let’s say later half of the year)
· $50,000 in 2023 (When book #2 is accepted, and book #1 is published)
· $50,000 in 2024 (When book #3 is accepted, and book #2 is published)
· $25,000 in 2025 (When book #3 is published)
Doesn’t look as good as the first model, right?
Depending on how fast Michael and Serena write and what their publishing schedule looks like they could have very weird feasting-lean years of writing income. If everything goes perfectly, Serena could earn $175,000 in one year, and then between $25,000 and $50,000 the next two to three years. This is also why many are warned how to quit their day jobs even if they get a fantastic contract since it can be hard to deal with all the ups and downs of publishing.
Finally, let’s look at the final payment method: in quarters. First, they still get paid half their contract on signing. Next, they get a ninth of their money upon delivering each book and then another ninth when that book publishes. And then they get the final ninth upon the paperback version publishing. (I’m using this paperback version as an example, not the standard, since I think it exemplifies the point well that payments can be spread out over a long period of time that are not in an author’s control. This may vary. Another example may be a year after the book has been published.)
Back to the math. Michael and Serena will look like this:
Michael will earn $15,000 upon signing his contract. And then get $1250 each time he hands in one of his novels, another $1250 when that book is officially published, and then another $1250 when the paperback version of that novel is published.
Serena will get $150,000 upon signing her contract. And then get $12,500 each time she hands in her novel, another $12,500 each time it’s officially published, and then another $12,500 each time the paperback version is published.
So, once again, let’s assume this is over a three-year period from 2023-2025 when his three books are published. (Spoilers, it’s not just going to be just those years). Michael’s earnings might look like this:
· $15,000 in 2022 (Half of the contract) (Let’s also assume he signed it the year before since publishing is very rarely quick)
· $1250 in 2022 (When book #1 is accepted) (Let’s say later half of the year)
· $2500 in 2023 (When book #2 is accepted, and book #1 is published)
· $3750 in 2024 (When book #3 is accepted, book #2 is published, and book #1 is published in paperback)
· $2500 in 2025 (When book #3 is published, and book #2 is published in paperback)
· $1250 in 2026 (When book #3 is published in paperback)
See ups-and-downs and how the tail has become longer in this model? A writer couldn’t sustain themselves on this if this was their only job. Their pay becomes widely inconsistent. And, once again, this is assuming their books come out in an orderly, yearly fashion. Add another year in there somewhere and things get much leaner. But let’s look at Serena to see how she did:
· $150,000 in 2022 (Half of the contract) (Let’s also assume he signed it the year before since publishing is very rarely quick)
· $12,500 in 2022 (When book #1 is accepted) (Let’s say later half of the year)
· $25,000 in 2023 (When book #2 is accepted, and book #1 is published)
· $37,500 in 2024 (When book #3 is accepted, and book #2 is published, and book #1 is published in paperback)
· $25,000 in 2025 (When book #3 is published, and book #2 is published in paperback)
· $12,500 in 2026 (When book #3 is published in paperback)
Suddenly, that looks better, but nowhere near as good as the previous models.
And this is very simplified look at how a writer gets paid in the current model. Publishing, at its core, is a meritocracy. The more an initial advance is the more likely that writer and series will get more marketing so the publisher can get back their money. And success begets success. Which is why it can sometimes feel and look like some writers are getting everything while others are getting none.
I wish I had some insightful wisdom to share here, but I don’t. This is publishing, whether we like its methods or not.
Best of luck.