(no subject)

[ksmith]

I haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife, but it did sell rather well. Well enough for Scribner to pay Audrey Niffenegger $4.8 million for her next book.

"It is an especially significant sum at a time of retrenchment and economic uncertainty in the publishing world."

Just...wow. And for skiffy, yet.

By way of Mediabistro.

UPDATE: dip into the Times article. It's the "only" in front of the $100,000 (The amount that Niffenegger was paid for TTTW) that gets to me. Yes, I know--mainstream and genre are different worlds. I know.

Comments

[mcurry.livejournal.com]

A $4.8 million advance sure makes it seem like the publisher hasn't actually learned anything from the current publish-ocalypse. I'm sure it's great for morale to have layoffs and pay freezes at the same time the company is shelling out almost $5 million for a book.

[mcurry.livejournal.com]

And, to be clear, it has nothing to do with the quality of Ms. Nifenegger's work. It just seems like a ridiculous sum for an advance, no matter how gifted the writer may be.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

With these large advances...do publishers make money with these books? Does it take years to recover the advance? According to the articles, TTTW sold about 120K hardcovers and well over a million mmpb. yet that smaller publisher is still having money troubles, which was one reason why they weren't able to score Niffenegger's second book.

Because if the publisher makes money, I can understand them paying that much. I know that sometimes overlarge advances are bad for the writer simply because the odds are that the publisher will not make the moeny back, and it will be considered the writer's fault. But if anyone ever offered me that much, I would be extremely hard-pressed to turn it down. arcaedia would have her work cut out for her to convince me it could scuttle my career if it didn't work out.

[mcurry.livejournal.com]

I think to some extent the amount of the advance in cases like these is used to get a writer to change publishers (as in this case) or to keep a writer from changing publishers, rather than being a realistic assessment of how much money the book is likely to earn. There's an issue of prestige for the publishing house that I get the impression is sometimes as important as actual earning ability, sort of like when a team overpays for a sports star.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

The publisher can make money long before the author makes back the advance. However, since most big hit authors are one-time wonders, the economics of paying this much for a second book is fairly ridiculous.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The article does say that Niffenegger had already finished the second book prior to trying to sell it, and everyone loves it. It's a supernatural sorta thriller kinda--there are ghosts, and family relationships, etc.

Guess that's the danger inherent in a book, first or not, going through the roof. How do you follow up in a way that does the book and the author justice without threatening the author's career?

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

My guess is that the author's career is never that threatened. Chances are, if you've had one breakout seller, someone's always going to be willing to publish you. You may no longer get the big bucks up front, but you'll always have your window to try again.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I think it's threatened to the extent that if you blow it, you're kicked off Olympus ne'er to return. It's my understanding that mainstream is less forgiving than genre when it comes to second chances and reinvention. Yes, you could still get published, but you may have to drop from the majors to A ball in order to do so, at least for a while. Meanwhile, you're the talk of the industry because at that level, everybody knows you tanked. You could say, though, that you would like a shot at having those problems.

Thing is, I do know someone who had a hit with a book--not their first--but didn't extend the streak with the follow-up. And everyone knew within the first week the new book was out that it wasn't going to repeat, that comparatively speaking, it tanked. Knives came out, because at that level, some people just love it when a writer fails.

It's a different ballgame, and waaay out of my league. I will just say that from all I've heard, there isn't nearly as much room to maneuver.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

This whole business does strike me as a bad plan, given the economy. Too many mainstream authors are indeed one-hit wonders.

The dynamic of genres is that of "building" authors. You drop their books into a modest ready market and try to gain new readers with each book. If they can eventually break out from their genre ghetto and into the mainstream, then the real cash starts rolling in.

The best statement I ever heard regarding auctions: "All that means is that you paid more for the book than your peers were willing to risk."

I certainly don't want to see Ms. Niffenegger get hurt by a tanking book, but a part of me always wishes for such a huge advance to not pay off, just to teach editors a lesson to stop behaving like addicts at the craps table.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Is the expectation that the advance would be earned back by hardcover sales only, or are mmpb, book clubs, audio included as well? Foreign sales? It may be a dumb question, but I wonder how quickly the publisher needs to earn back this investment.

I keep hearing that publishers have abandoned the midlist. No more nurturing. One book, two books, three at the most--if you haven't broken out by then, you're replaced with a new, baggage-free writer.

I will admit that I see it to some degree, but not across the board. There is still a midlist, at least in genreland. I don't know about mainstream.