Re: Fees for extraordinary expenses

I think you misunderstand the conventions of the publisher's advance.

Although what you describe can occur these days, conventionally, when  
a publisher accepts a MSS and offers to publish a work the author is  
given a negotiated advance on anticipated royalties. He/she receives  
that money not to write the book (that's already done) but because of  
the delays between the acceptance of the work and actual publication.  
While that can be quite quick these days it used to be at least a  
year, and longer before the publisher actually received any money  
from sales of the published book, and therefore the author received  
royalties.

The advance is meant to tide the author over until sales begin to  
bring in royalties, and to encourage him/her to write further books  
that might make money if the first work proves successful. It's no  
different to a commission salesperson being given a retainer against  
future sales/commissions.


On 22/03/2008, at 3:11 PM, Jon Jermey wrote:

> It seems to me that this is only an issue because publishers are
> prepared to pay in advance for work that the author has not yet done,
> But why is this so? Nearly every other commercial arrangement that I
> know of doesn't deliver payment until the goods are received in a
> satisfactory condition.
>
> If an author won't write a book without receiving an advance, it
> presumably means that they have reasonable doubts about the  
> publisher's
> probity and/or the book's commercial potential -- in which case the  
> book
> probably shouldn't be written anyway.
>
> Everything I learn about fiction publishing makes it look less and  
> less
> like a serious business and more and more like buying lottery tickets.
>
>
> Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
> Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
> Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
> Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
> Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
> Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *
>
> (* == yahoogroups.com)
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
> Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch  
> format to Traditional
> Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
> RECENT ACTIVITY
> 15
> New Members
> 3
> New Links
> Visit Your Group
> Only on Yahoo!
> World of Star Wars
> Meet fans, watch
> videos & more.
> Search Ads
> Get new customers.
> List your web site
> in Yahoo! Search.
> Sell Online
> Start selling with
> our award-winning
> e-commerce tools.
> .
>
> 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:[email protected] 
    mailto:ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/