Knowing in advance
April 22
Milton gave away the rights to Paradise Lost for just £5 and all Joseph Conrad asked for was ‘a fountain pen of good repute’ – my how times have changed. Author advances are a thing of mystery to those not in the know. We are aware that they fluctuate, from overblown six-figure sums to petty small change, and that the present economic downturn is no bar to publishers forking out big money for big books which are virtually guaranteed to sell. But otherwise, it’s endless speculation. This is probably because publishing itself is all about guesswork – an advance is calculated based on estimated risk, taking into account market trends, past sales records and the possibility of foreign rights. The New York Times recently shed a little light on the matter, in this analysis of the US market: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/books/review/Meyer-t.html?_r=2&ref=books
JA
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