The Art of the Book Deal (and How Much Money You Can Expect)

Does anything else get charged against your royalties besides the advance? i.e. can they subtract costs for "promotion" from your royalties or other such creative accounting?

You are a gem! Following you faithfully! ❤

Can you decide when you want to receive royalties?

Useful and interesting. Thank you

I absolutely loved this video! If I’m ever so lucky to sell my book. If sold to the big 5 now big 4, as the author would I still be able to be part of that process to promote my book? What if I wanted to have it translated into another language and would like to promote it in another country? Could I make those suggestions? You’re the best!

Alyssa, you did a smashing job breaking this down💐. I am an author who just self-published my first (Divine Intervention 360), "Check it out at your convenience, and I'd appreciate your feedback." Would you explain, or do you have a video explaining the process to a self-published deal? Thank you kindly, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for the very clear and authentic advice!

Very similar to film distribution deals. Watch out for "creative accounting".Get as much as you can up front in the advance.or if your lucky, guarantee because they are going to charge your royalties with launch parties,advertiseing,,tours,gifts for key reviewers,MISC. You will get it back on the next deal if the first one is a hit. Their tongues will be hanging out then, you stick it to them and ask for a bigger guarantee.It's OK, It's business.Greed is good!

So how do you find out literary agent?

Thank you for the information. Do you ever do Q&A? My boss and I would love to schedule a zoom to ask you some questions. Probably sounds creepy, I'm sorry. We just need some information and would like to pick you brain. We would be happy to pay for your time. Please reply and let me know if you're interested.

How much money depends on how many books you sell.

So... how screwed are you if you aren't sure which books are good comp titles?

Thanks Alyssa. Your knowledge is so helpful

Wow, you do a fantastic job both keeping it real AND hopeful! Thank you!

Thank you Alyissa, Your videos are very informative and well explained. I am currently working on my first Sci-fi novel and the process is going very well. 👌 I subscribed to your channel.

Is there ever a point when the publishing house loses ownership of a book? After 50 years? Or if a publishing house sells your book well, and you then want to make more content with the world, (like a movie, 2nd book, or audio book) what rights does the publisher typically hold over you?

Yes this helps. Thanks Alyssa

Very helpful information! I've self-published a few simple works, but working on my first non-fiction, self-help book. Thanks for the videos.

Watching this in advance of a first book publishing deal meeting on Monday. Thanks so much!

I'd love to see your video titled: How To Get A 7-Figure Advance

I recently discovered your channel and appreciate all the advice. Keep 'em coming! Thanks!!

If you are a debut author and you know your novel is spectacular, do not sell to a publisher. Self publish. You will maintain freedom and establish a vision for your work. You will also earn higher commission. You can always sign a deal later, holding leverage in negotiating.

I'm curious about that debut author who was paid a million dollars? Being a debut author myself, that is awesome and so encouraging. Please tell us which book it was. I'm writing a historical romance fiction book, currently at 70 000 words, and counting. Having great reviews so far.

I did the math for fun and, in the case of a 40 000$ advance, you would retain 34 000$.
Granted that you would score maybe a 10 000$ advance on your own if you're lucky, I'd say that's a pretty fair deal to have the agent give you a hand.
(The 10 000$ are based on the advances I've heard off, in France where I'm living, with people who went on their own. While we do have literary agents, the occupation is not as spread out as in North America and a lot of author go through self-publishing or negociating on their own.)

this is great😢😢😢

Do you have any knowledge of all this but if you were to self publish?

What percentage do illustrators get? Is it the same percentage that an author gets?

These kinds of videos are very informative. Most of my knowledge of book deals come from the dialogue in TV and movie plots, so there's a lot of guesswork and incorrect conclusions that I came too.😅
Thanks for the clarification

VERY helpful, I am a fan of the guidance you're offering. New to the market, after a career in animation, and am fascinated and intrigued by all the possibilities in print. It is a labyrinth!

Thank you, basically the “publishing house” takes 90% THEN the Agent takes 15% of your 10% 😬 yikes

Your videos are so informative and helpful, thank you! I did have a quick question about literary agents. Does it matter which country your agent is from? I’ve been looking over a lot of agents lately and I think I’ve settled on a London-based agency. Is there any downside to going through them if I’m from the USA? Thank you!

What about the reversion of rights clause? I hear horror stories of certain publishing houses retaining rights to books without even putting them in print (Harlequin etc) and authors often forewarn other aspiring writers to always ensure that there's some sort of reversion of rights if the book stops selling, to enable the author to buy back the rights to their book and distribute it through a different publisher. What does this usually look like in a book contract?

Alyssa! Great information and love that you are breaking this down! Going to check some of your other videos out 😀

Invaluable advice!! Thank you so much for taking the time to put your knowledge and experience out there for us!! So helpful and I’m very grateful🙏😇🤞💕📚

I absolutely LOVE this channel! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for demystifying this industry for me and other budding authors!!

Honestly so helpful for someone who's curious and knows nothing about this world! Thank you!

What if the book gets a movie deal or a series? Do u still get payed beyond ur advance ?

do they also want the movie rights? What if i want to keep those? Do they back away then?

Wow, Your Gorgeous 😮

Thank you so much for these educational videos!

Great video, thank you for sharing these tips

Learning so much. Really appreciate the content and quality you supply in these videos!

Alyssa - Noble, and rational. It derives from alyssum, a medicinal flower thought to cure madness at one point in history

How much is 6 figures exactly?

Thank you for the wonderful video. I'm working on my first fiction novel, and I'm about 18k words in so far! I appreciate the entire overview and look forward to learning more about this business. :)

I won't want to read shortened mystery novels..the thicker , the better like Elizabeth George, or Tammy Hoag just started one of her thick mystery items bI.eresd everyone of E.George.s mysteries. always very long, always wait for.the. Paperback.

I know this probably isn’t an exciting question, but it’s a good one to know the answer to:
When you file your taxes for the year, do you claim the money you’ve received from your book as a business owner? Do you have to consider your writing as a business?

Great information Alyssa thanks so much for making it so clear!
One question I have is that I actually paid my publisher a sum of £2,500 before I found out they were a hybrid type of publisher.
It's been a long road but my book is out online already and I think it's selling OK so far. But I am curious as to what my percentage is that they will work out my royalties after listening to your guidance.
My first lot of royalties are predicted for 31st December so not long now, and I continue to write the sequel to the first book in the meantime.
I don't understand how the publisher can take the lions share of the royalties when I contributed to the publication because I was a new author.
Unless I have read the percentages the wrong way round 📖😁

Hi Alyssa, this is very good info! I have handful of manuscripts that fit into the children’s picture book category. Do you recommend self publishing or traditional publishing?