Thread by @whimsicallyours

So, I read this brilliant piece by @HDemetrios, and I want to echo what she says about asking questions. This is your career. If you don't understand your payment structure, you need to ask. You need to understand (upfront) when you're getting paid. medium.com/page-count/how…

First and foremost, an advance is just that. It's upfront payment. In most cases, nothing but that money is guaranteed. You have to advocate for when you get an advance. If you don't understand, you've got to ask.

Reading this piece was like a shot of anxiety. When I was an editor, I heard about stuff like this happening all the time. As a writer, I talk about this ALL THE TIME with friends. People get big advances and then spend them and save nothing and then it's just gone.

And listen, it goes both ways right. On one hand, I agree. This industry doesn't do enough to educate writers about their finances. I was an editor when I got my advance for PHOENIX, so I already knew that a lump sum can seem like a lot but it's not when it's paid out in parts.

Let's say you have $100k for a book. Let's say it's paid out in 1/3s. So 1/3 on signing of contract. 1/3 on delivery/acceptance of revised book. 1/3 on pub date (or 18/24 months post acceptance). The contract could take months before you sign it (as mine did for PHOENIX)...

You might end up doing a lot more revisions than you think and then the editor doesn't officially "accept" the book when you think they will... the book could get moved out re: pub date. SO MUCH CAN HAPPEN. you MUST save

And then you HAVE to put money away for taxes. Though it was a big sum re: PHOENIX, I had been saving my expenses and had an excellent accountant who helped me to comb over everything so I like paid only $2k in taxes, which was hella impressive.

The job of a great agent is to negotiate those parts of the contact, or well all parts haha, to make sure you're not getting paid super far out for stuff. but like different agents are different when it comes to walking clients through all parts of the business. ask questions.

I 100% get the want to have a publisher explain all this to you and prep you, but most editors work for a corporation...publishing is a business. being an author is like running a small business. own your stuff. advocate for yourself. look out for each other.

listen ive seen writers with near $1 million deals burn through it in a few years whereas there are writers who had like 20k deals who are still publishing today and own property. ive also seen the reverse happen. advance amount doesn't = longevity. but being strategic does help.

there's a reason why my brand is all slytherin all the time, passion laced with strategy. writing a good book isn't the end, signing with a good agent isn't the end, nor is a fancy book deal. you have to look out for yourself. you need to build a community that has your back.

W do need more financial transparency. Not as to what everyone's making because tbh, I don't want people knowing my business like that. But as in what are ways you save, is a fancy website worth it (no), how do I decide what to pay out of pocket for, things like that.

Like so you sell your first book/series, that's amazing. What the language "behind the curtain" re: going into selling your second book/series is going to be about is performance. How is your first book/series selling. Is it a worthwhile investment to buy another from you.

And part of the discussion, sometimes (not all the times) is about "earning out" which means, did you sell enough books to earn back the amount the publisher paid you upfront (aka the advance... and once you do earn out your advance then you get royalties aka more money)

The reason for this is that publishing is a business that is fortunately/unfortunately a lot like venture capitalism. We run numbers, yes, and also some of it is calculated guessing of okay x person brought in x money last year, so we're gonna assume their new book will too.

But maybe your new book is a completely different genre than your first that didn't do so well, this could be a case made in your favor (relaunching in a new genre!) or it could be too great a risk for your publisher to take. ive seen both situations. so little is guaranteed.

I think the problem with massive advances is that writers naturally think, oh I must be important to this publisher and they are then often setup to be let down when that advance doesnt always translate into the marketing spend they see others getting.

but on the flip side, the money is whats guaranteed. so am i cautious? hell yes. but also money is money. ive known writers forced ton choose b/t a more enthusiastic editor offering a lot less money & an editor they like offering a lot more... thats an impossible choice to make.

Gonna recommend a series @stdennard and her agent @JoSVolpe did breaking down sooz's advance AND subrights (which are so important to a writers financial success, too!!) just for an intro.

on advance: mailchi.mp/susandennard/b…

on subrights etc.: mailchi.mp/susandennard/w…

@stdennard @JoSVolpe Also, as a final note, I'd like to add that the $35k advance mentioned within (that she got after her big advance books didnt sell well) is average (obvi small in comparison but average). I have heard writers complain about getting $50k and I'm like that's a great deal.