Don't believe everything you hear

[stacia_kane]

So, I've seen this a lot lately, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. I had no idea people actually still BELIEVED this one, but in the last week or two I've seen it mentioned by several people, so I'm going to talk about it here.

Of course, Victoria Strauss has already discussed it at the Writer Beware blog, but hey, the more the

Comments

[tmthomas]

But it is true that all authors need to donate 1% of their advance to me.

I know that's true. I heard it in a seminar I gave.

[irysangel]

I will say that if you sign your contract and the publisher gives you money, and then you say "No! I refuse to write this!" and YOU cancel the contract, you could have a clause that says you must give the money back, because you are reverting on the original deal.

However, let's say your publisher gives you money and then they come back six months later and say "Gosh, you know, we already bought three books about flying pigs, and yours would be number four, so we're going to cancel yours," then YOU STILL KEEP YOUR MONEY even though your book never gets published. Because they are cancelling on you.

At least, that is how it is in most contracts. Always check your contracts. So. :)

[cassiphone]

The only publicised examples I've ever seen of a publisher demanding the advance back is when the author has breached the contract - say by not delivering a publishable book (I think Joan Collins maybe got into trouble for handing in a pile of scrap paper in exchange for a massive advance) but even then I have heard so many examples as well of authors who never deliver at all and still get to keep the money... (don't do this, anyone!)

It seems to be the record industry that inspires this particular myth, because they do have to pay back advances, I think? (unless I'm perpetuating that one too)

The key thing of course is that if your book doesn't earn out your advance, your career can be massively stalled because your numbers look bad, and that means that publishers are less keen on touching you in future. Which is why big advances can be problematic for the author. You DO have to repay it, but not in cash...

[coffeeisgod]

Blogs like this make stalking authors worth while!

[pickledherring]

Not to mention paying the agent. (Since there often is one.) So does the agent give back his/her part of the advance, too?