In 2005 and 2007 108 science fiction and fantasy authors replied to a survey I did asking what they got for an advance for a book.
Basically I put up a survey on my website that people could fill out who were SF or Fantasy authors (sorry other genres, I don’t log your data, even if you do submit it).
Everyone kept worrying about occasional large advances that weren’t normal, like 1/2 million, but those outliers don’t affect the median.
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First Novel Advances:
The range is from $0-$40,000 for an advance on a first novel.
The median advance is $5000.
The median figure is a better indicator of what most people consider ‘typical.’ Mathematical average for first time advances was $6424.
Adjusted for inflation, as the figures range in year from advances given in 1970 to this year, the median advance is ~$6000.
First Novel Advances, Fantasy vs. Science Fiction
The range in Fantasy first novel advances is from $0 to $40,000.
The median first novel advance is $5000 for Fantasy (average is $6494)
The range in Science Fiction first novel advances is from $0 to $20,000.
The median first novel advance is $5000 for SF (average is $7000)
In version 1.0 of this article, with 74 respondents, I had enough of a difference in the data that I hazarded a guess that Fantasy first novel advances were larger than SF advances. I was wrong.
First Novels: Agented vs. Unagented:
58% of our first time novelists had an agent, the other 42% sold the book without an agent, and a high number indicate they got agents right after or during the sale of the book.
The range in agented advances is from $1500 to $40,000
The median agented advance is $6000 (the average is $7500)
The range in unagented advances is from $0 to $15000
The median unagented advance is $3500 (the average is $4051)
These figures have noticeable differences any way you look at them. Not having an agent looks to cost one well more than the agent’s percentage on average, and certainly most of the higher ranging figures come from people with agents.
note: Geoff Landis points out that the reverse may be true, agents may not choose to represent clients with lower advances.
Hardcover vs Trade Paperback or Mass Market for First Novels
Hardcover advances had a median of $5000
Paperback advances had a median of $5000
First Novel Advances Chart:
Here is a chart of all the first novel advances by year and amount:
And then when adjusted for inflation:
Careers
When I initially created the survey I added fields asking what the last novel the author in question got for an advance, as well as how many books they had sold, and how many years they’d been selling books. I was curious to see if the data would reveal any certain trends over time.
89 authors in this survey have sold more than one book. 47% answered the survey saying they were ‘full time writers’. Here is how that data breaks down:
The range was from $0-$600,000 for an advance on their latest novel.
The median advance for the multiply published is $12,500.
Broken down by Fantasy and SF
The range in last Fantasy novel advances is from $1000 to $600,000.
The median novel advance is $15,000 for Fantasy
The range in Science Fiction novel advances is from $0 to $45,000.
The median novel advance is $12,500 for SF.
Fantasy novels seem to breakout into higher sums.
Broken down by Agented vs. Unagented:
16% of our authors with multiple books sold over multiple years had no agent.
The range in agented advances is from $1000 to $600,000
The median agented advance is $12500
The range in unagented advances is from $0 to $21,500
The median unagented advance is $7250
These figures have noticeable differences across the board. Not having an agent looks to cost one well more than the agent’s percentage on average, and certainly most of the higher ranging figures come from people with agents.
note: Geoff Landis points out that the reverse may be true, agents may not choose to represent clients with lower advances.
Charts:
Advance by number of novels written:
Advance by years published:
Somethings to note about these charts. 1), I cut them off at $100,000 as only a few data points were above that, most of the data charts in the 0-$50,000 range. 2) they seem to be fairly randomized, meaning that there is no guarantee between years and numbers of books sold.
Hardcover vs Trade Paperback or Mass Market for Multiple Novelist
Hardcover advances had a median of $15,000
Paperback advances had a median of $10,000
Summary:
The typical advance for a first novel is $5000. The typical advance for later novels, after a typical number of 5-7 years and 5-7 books is $12,500. Having an agent at any point increases your advance. There is some slight correlation between number of books and number of years spent writing as represented in the 5-12.5 thousand dollar advance shift of an average of 5-7 years. Charting individual author’s progressions, which I will not release to keep anonymity, reveals a large number of upward lines at varying degrees of steepness for advances, some downward slides.
Some authors noted that they’d gotten large advances in the 90s but were being paid less now.
What now?
I welcome all feedback and discussion, either here in the comments or at my email. Please be civil ya’ll.