Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Advance Thinking

Macmillan New Writing author David Isaak has an interesting post about the matter of publishers' advances which relates to my own post of last year.

Like the Macmillan New Writers, the Bitch has also recently done a deal which does not include an advance and, skint though she is, quite frankly she doesn't give a damn. After the experience of having a (different) book put up for auction under a new pseudonym (as a concession to the cult of the Next New Thing) and then dropped like a hot brick when the hoped-for half a million or whatever didn't materialise, the news from her new publishers that they are interested in nurturing her career as a writer - rather than just in her book as a single commodity - is music to her ears.

3 comments:

David Isaak said...

That's great news about the new publisher!

Meanwhile, I've been shooting my mouth off again (Mar 6) on the topic of swollen advances, listing some of the publshing industry's latest train wrecks. 2006 was a banner year for dumb, jaw-droppingly-expensive publishing decisions...

Debi said...

As advances are usually spread over 4 years, they can rarely be enough to actually put food on the table for most of us mortals.

I agree - just getting out there is what counts, no matter how hungry we are. Good luck!

Elizabeth Baines said...

Thanks, Debi. And good luck to you too!