Advances
As those in the publishing world may have heard, Random House created a set of "publishing imprints" in which they 1) don't offer advances and 2) charge the author for various (unspecified) publishing expenses. To say the business-savvy authors of the world Are Not Amused is an understatement.
This led into a charge by John Scalzi to argue that if a publisher wasn't offering advances, you shouldn't deal with them.
I didn’t take an advance on my book. In part that’s because it’s with a small press, and the advance wasn’t going to be very much to begin with. But I was offered an advance, and since I had planned to use any advance for marketing expenses (again, small press) I decided to take the alternative, which was a higher royalty rate.
Shorter Scalzi - if they’re not at least offering advances, y’all need to take a hard look at whether or not they’re worth doing business with.
This led into a charge by John Scalzi to argue that if a publisher wasn't offering advances, you shouldn't deal with them.
I didn’t take an advance on my book. In part that’s because it’s with a small press, and the advance wasn’t going to be very much to begin with. But I was offered an advance, and since I had planned to use any advance for marketing expenses (again, small press) I decided to take the alternative, which was a higher royalty rate.
Shorter Scalzi - if they’re not at least offering advances, y’all need to take a hard look at whether or not they’re worth doing business with.