Percentage of royalties going towards advertising.?
June 17, 2010 by muneer1
Filed under internet advertising success
I am doing a research paper for my creative writing class. I’ve searched the internet for information regarding this and haven’t found anything. For a writers first published book, how much money should be used for advertising, assuming that the book has been written well? I would guess the majority of it in order to be a success.
The two answers are both correct – in a perfect world. I don’t dispute what they say. It would be a nice scenario.
However that is generally not how it works today in the world of publishing. Even signed with a major publisher, it is unlikely that the first printing of a book by a first time author will get much if any publishing budget.
This is the reality of the situation. You will receive an advance – maybe 50% of your anticipated royalties on your first printing. The SMART first time author takes that money and plows it right back into marketing. They hire a marketing firm and work out a marketing plan on their own.
Why? Simple. Because if that book doesn’t sell 50% of its copies, you will be required to give back a portion of your advance. And you won’t see another royalty check until it has sold 50% plus one copies. If you don’t and your book ends up in the bargain bins, you make ZERO royalties on those copies.
So it is to your advantage to develop a marketing plan and invest in your future as an author. If you do it successfully, you will be able to negotiate a higher rate when the second printing comes out, and you will be more likely to sell foreign rights, movie rights, get more reviews, get a multi book deal, get into the warehouses like Costco and Sam’s House etc. There, your books sell for less but the volume of outlets they have makes up the difference. It puts your book in front of many more people than the average bookstore does. But you have to make a separate deal with them.
There has been one notable exception. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova was given a 50 million dollar advertising budget. It was billed as "The Next Da Vinci Code". The publishing world was clambering to see who would come up with the book that followed Da Vinci and made it to the top of the best seller lists and stayed there as long. Most books stay at the top only a few weeks. Little Brown thought they had the successor and they went big on the advertising budget. They took a big gamble. It didn’t exactly turn out that way with The Historian. Today it is in the bargain bins and publishers think twice before investing a lot on new authors.
Dan Brown, when he gets around to putting out The Solomon Key, will get a huge budget. James Patterson does, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly et al. Because they are proven and practically guaranteed best sellers. A new author isn’t and a publishing company has already gambled on you by printing your book. They aren’t going to be willing to go much farther until they see some action on the part of the book.
So yes while it is true according to Uncle Jim’s Law that the money should flow toward the author, you have to be willing to spend money to make money.
One other note. Bookstores. Did you know that every one of those books in the front of the door when you walk in and on those racks near the registers are paid advertising? Large stores get as much as a dollar a book to place your books in those prime traffic spots. Sometimes, a marketing plan may include placing your books there for a few days. Usually that’s all you can afford. Hopefully it pumps up your sales.
I have known many authors who have made their books best sellers using their advances without a dime from their publishers. Happens all the time. If you sit back and wait for your publisher to cough up advertising dollars, you may end up getting a bill requesting part of your advance back and the next time you see your book, it’s on the bargain shelf marked down to 5.99 of which you see nothing.
It is just smart business to invest in your career. Hope that helps. Pax-C