Question.

[Bamy]

Hypothetically speaking, if you were to get a fantasy novel published (after getting through all of the pitfalls that come with writing and publishing a book) what would the author get paid? and if there are reprintings of the book, does the author get commision for the work, a percentage of the sales or what?? (does that make any sense?)

[Kath]

Last I heard, royalties were roughly 50p per book...

Let's see... [checks the rec.arts.sf.composition FAQ]

Advances:
And advance is the upfront money you get from selling a book. The
amount of advance recieved varies widely based on how famous an author
is, how much the editor liked the manuscript, and so forth. It is
difficult to give a "likely amount": simply assume it won't be enough to
pay you back for the time and effort that you put into the book in the
first place.
Advances are only one of the three kinds of money it is possible to
make from selling books. After your book is published, it will begin to
earn royalties. The more copies are bought, the more royalties it
earns. After it has earned sufficient royalties to cover the cost of
the advance (if it ever does,) then you will start recieving royalty
payments. Odd bits of money may occationally appear from the sale of
"subsiduary rights." Added all together it is still unlikely that the
money will add up to enough to pay you back for the time and effort that
you put into the book. Writers are one of the most notoriously
underpaid segments of the workforce.


Also check out this thread (http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec.arts.sf.composition/browse_frm/thread/af0375d8105d6fe/1cf5d11de5fce91d?lnk=st&q=author+royalties+fantasy+publication+thousand+copies+group:rec.arts. sf.composition&rnum=2&hl=en#1cf5d11de5fce91d) which has some useful discussions of royalty rates and advances.

Somewhere in the region of 5-10% (likely closer to 5%) is the typical level of royalties an author can expect.

So, just multiple that up by the 1000 - 10,000 copies that might get sold... 100,000 or more copies is not likely unless you really make a big impact.

[Anareth]

It depends completely on your contract and how that was written.

If you're talking US, major publishers, how it usually works is: you get an advance when your agent sells the manuscript. Your book is printed and hits the market. The advance is likely the last money you'll see unless you are VERY lucky, because royalties usually only start after the book earns out its advance, and the majority of books never do and are remaindered. If you do earn out, 5-10% is pretty standard. If you were first published in hardback (highly unlikely for a first-time fantasy writer) then what you earn on the paperback edition depends on how those rights were negotiated.

For more on remaindering, see this lovely poem: The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered (http://www.panmacmillan.com/books/october/bookofmyenemy/extract.html) An author friend sent it to me once. It is amusing.

[Bamy]

thankyou!

[Vyon]

The book of your enemy was not remaindered. It was packed into a container and sent to New Zealand to be sold at "Books a Plenty" - of course, the fact that we couldn't buy it BEFORE it was remaindered was completely irrelevant!