🚀 go-pugleaf

Mark Stavar (marks@iris.mincom.oz.au) wrote:
: --
: 
: Assumimg that one has been successful at have a _book length_ work
: accepted and published:
: 
: How many copies of the work would need to be sold before the book
: might be considered a _commercial_ success, i.e., having covered the 

One response:  At the very least, you want to earn back your advance.  A
case in point:  My first novel, _Deadweight_ was sold last spring to Dell
for their Dell Abyss horror line of paperback novels in the US & Canada.
The advance (against royalties) was $4,000.  I get 8% of the cover price
of $4.99, so say 40 cents per copy sold.  The book, then, had better sell
at least 10,000 copies for Dell not to have lost money on the advance they
paid me (which, by custom, I get to keep, regardless).  Actually, my agent
says that, based on what past performance she knows about regarding this
particular line of horror novels, I can expect roughly a total of $10,000,
i.e. 25,000 copies sold, giving me $6,000 over the $4,000 advance eventually.
At a minimum, then, you want to avoid the case of not earning back the
advancd you've received, as they'll be less inclined--particularly if it 
becomes a two- or three-book pattern--to publish your next one.

_Deadweight_, by the way, is scheduled for publication in March 1994, yes,
1994 (it takes two years for a first novel from their yes to the book's
appearing on the bookshelf), & will be a mass-market paperback available
in the US & (I believe) Canada.
--
Robert Devereaux
bobdev@hprpcd.rose.hp.com
Roseville, CA
(916) 785-5487