Book Advances

[KatG]

Originally posted by Hemingway
Actually, based on a quote by a writer who had the same agent as Terry Goodkind, he recieved a $250,000 advance. Still a pretty nice hunk of change there! This is probably the best site I've seen regarding payment for fantasy work. It's written by a writer Holly Lisle, a pretty good writer in her own respect. http://hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/faqs5.html


Well I may be remembering it wrong. Wizard's First Rule, right? My memory is that he got a one million advance which sent huge shock waves throughout the industry. The publisher naturally did a huge promotion campaign and the launch went pretty well.

Usually, an agent doesn't tell other clients the terms he or she got for a particular client, but of course, info gets out. A lot of the writers organizations -- Sisters in Crime, SFFWA, and such, are very chummy and people share info and keep tabs on each other, especially since big deals are announced in the press.

One thing that does get shared is an agent's precedent. If an agent gets certain contract terms/language for one client with a particular publisher, then the agent has precedent and can get the same terms for another client with the same publisher.

[KatG]

Originally posted by milamber_reborn
Anyone know if general/mainstream fiction short stories pay better than specualtive fiction?

Also, I've got a general fiction short story sitting here, that I've had good feedback on. I have no idea where to send it.

The general fiction is both wider and less organized than the sf/f market. It can pay quite a bit better, but the best paying venues for fiction are sought by everyone and so it's hard to break in. Similar situation in sf/f, but it's a community and one that's always been open to new talent. Editors and agents will troll at least the well-known sf/f magazines for new talent. Universities put out a lot of literary general fiction magazines. Don't know what the best directories are, but you can try some web searches.

[mistri]

Originally posted by KatG



Well I may be remembering it wrong. Wizard's First Rule, right? My memory is that he got a one million advance which sent huge shock waves throughout the industry. The publisher naturally did a huge promotion campaign and the launch went pretty well.



I think the one million advance was more recent. I recall reading about it within the last year or so. Maybe we all have wonky memories though :)

[milamber_reborn]

Goodkind burst onto the fantasy scene in 1994 in a fashion most struggling writers only dream of. Two years ago, at age 45, he decided to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a novelist. A year later he sent a query letter describing his first effort, a three hundred thousand word opus titled Wizard's First Rule, to Russell Galen. Galen, one of the genre's most influential agents quickly wrote back, "I feel a ripple of history in the making. Send me your book."

Ten weeks later, Wizard's First Rule sold at auction for more than six times the record price ever paid for a first fantasy novel.


That's all I could find. I distinctly remember last year someone posting a link to an article that stated he received a $6 million advance.

[KatG]

Originally posted by milamber_reborn
Goodkind burst onto the fantasy scene in 1994 in a fashion most struggling writers only dream of. Two years ago, at age 45, he decided to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a novelist. A year later he sent a query letter describing his first effort, a three hundred thousand word opus titled Wizard's First Rule, to Russell Galen. Galen, one of the genre's most influential agents quickly wrote back, "I feel a ripple of history in the making. Send me your book."

Ten weeks later, Wizard's First Rule sold at auction for more than six times the record price ever paid for a first fantasy novel.


That's all I could find. I distinctly remember last year someone posting a link to an article that stated he received a $6 million advance.

Well that makes me think my memory of the $1 million advance for WFR is correct. If I get a chance, I'll try to check it out on the web. Logically, at his current sales level, his advances would have to be several million, though I'm not sure that the series is actually doing as well now as it used to.