A: Surprisingly, I am often asked this question. Always remember that you are the one ultimately in control of the situation. If you don't want to accept an offer, you don't have to. End of story. Once you've signed a contract, it's a different situation, but at this stage in the game you are still free to walk away from any situation in which you don't feel comfortable. Remember that writing a book involves a great deal of hard work and energy. If you don't feel you are being fairly compensated, now is the time to walk away-not later when you've already committed to delivering a quality book in a certain amount of time.

Q: What is an advance against royalties?

A: This refers to the amount of money you are paid for your book. It is a nonrefundable advance against royalties, which means that even if your book sells only two copies, you never have to pay the advance back. This is one of the benefits you receive for being an author. Here is how an advance works. Say you are paid a total of $20,000 dollars for your book. You must then earn back this amount of money in royalties or subsidiary rights before you make any additional income. Royalties for a hardcover book generally start at 10% of the cover price and escalate to 15%, so you must sell approximately 8,000 copies of a $24 dollar book before you will "earn out" your $20,000 advance and start to see additional money. Royalties for trade paperback books (the larger "quality" paperback size) are generally 7.5%, and royalties for mass market books (the smaller size paperbacks which are sold in airports and supermarkets as well as in bookstores) are usually 8%. You can also earn out your advance if your publisher makes additional income by selling book club, foreign, paperback, or any other additional rights, also know as subsidiary rights. You generally are entitled to at least 50% of this money, and again, it goes against your advance.

Advances used to be paid in two parts: on signing, and after your book is accepted for publication. Now they are almost always divided into thirds or even fourths: one payment on signing, one on acceptance, and one on publication. This is obviously a less advantageous arrangement and rest assured that your agent is as unhappy as you are about it. Very large advances can be spread out to five or even six payments: on signing, on acceptance, on hardcover publication, on paperback publication, one year after publication, etc.
Also, there are two exceptions to the "non-refundable" part of the deal. You will often be legally obligated to repay your advance if you do not deliver your book within the time specified in your contract, or if you deliver a book that is unacceptable to the publisher.

Q: What is the difference between a deal for World rights and North American rights only?

A: You have the option of selling the publisher the right to translate and publish your book all over the world, or to retain those rights and let the publisher publish the book in North America only. Your agent will often use these rights as part of the negotiation of the deal. Say getting more money up front is more important to you. Your agent can offer the publisher World rights as a way of getting you a larger advance. If you retain the rights, and your agent sells them for you, you get your money for these deals directly. If the publisher retains them, you have to wait until you have earned out your advance before getting your share. The plus side of this is that you will then start to see royalty income more quickly.

Q: How soon will I get the first installment of my advance after we've made a deal for the book?

A: Usually, it will take at least a month before you get the contracts. This contract can be just the starting point: you and your agent may need to discuss any necessary changes, your agent needs to negotiate the changes with the contracts department, and new contracts need to be generated. Then, after you sign the contract, it can take another month before you get a copy of the fully-executed agreement and your advance due on signing. So anticipate at least three to four months wait before you get your first check and signed contract. I've heard of authors who have delivered finished manuscripts before they ever got their money due on signing. Remember that your agent doesn't get paid until you do, so they are just as eager as you are to get the process moving. They will be working diligently behind the scenes to keep things moving in a timely fashion. The good news is that when you sell your next book to the publisher, they can use your first contract as a model, and hopefully things will move much more quickly. Finally, please don't take the delay personally. Large publishers have hundreds and hundreds of contracts to issue, and many people within the company have to sign off on them. A delay in the generation of your contract IN NO WAY indicates diminished interest in your book.