(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

[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.