First,
the publisher produces the book that the author has written. The publisher
ships these books (at its own expense) to bookstores or to a distributor (the
middle party between the publisher and bookstore). If the books are sent to a
distributor, he or she sells them to bookstores (many times on consignment),
usually through a catalogue or a sales call, and ships them to the bookstore at
the distributor’s expense.
When the bookstore sells a book, it pays the distributor or publisher. However,
each party in the sales chain takes a percentage of the retail revenue from the
book’s sale before the remainder, the royalty, trickles down to the author.
Generally, the bookseller will get 40, 45 to 55 percent of the sale, the distributor
20 percent, the author 10 percent, sometimes five percent, and the publisher
the balance. (As a self-publisher, you would get the author and publisher
share.)
Also keep in mind that booksellers send back returns (books that don’t sell) to
the publisher at the publisher’s expense. Authors receive no income from these
books.
Advances
An advance (or, more correctly, an advance against royalties) is a sum of money
a publisher pays an author before a book is published. The schedule can vary,
but often, it is paid in two or more installments — one when the author signs
the contract, another when the manuscript is delivered to the publisher, and
additional installments at different steps of the process.
In order to understand how a publishing advance works, you need to understand
how the bookselling process works.
The advance you may or may not receive from a publisher is an advance on
royalties, the author’s share in the pot. If your book retails for $20 and
you’ve received an advance of $5,000, that means the publisher needs to sell
2,500 books (2,500 x $2) before it makes back the money it paid in the advance
and before you will receive any more royalties. If the publisher doesn’t sell
enough copies of a book to recoup the advance, that will be the only money you
will ever see. One benefit is that the author doesn’t have to pay back the
advance if book sales go in the hole.
It only goes to show you, don’t spend your money before you have it.
www.freelancepublishing.net