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I totally agree with you.
Question on Richard Arnold and his role
- Thread starter RonG
- Start date
About the world, no. About a specific person's private affairs, yes. A person's business income is generally not a matter for public broadcast.
Hello. I agree with you. I wasn’t asking for a SPECIFIC person’s salary and I certainly wasn’t asking about your own personal salary. I apologize if I wasn’t clear. I meant to inquire about the GENERAL contract conditions of Star Trek authors as an AVERAGE. To wit:
1) Is there an upfront base payment? A so-called “advance”? If so, how much. (I’m NOT asking you! I’m just wondering about a ballpark figure.)
2) Is the royalty structure fixed or on a sliding scale? Better yet, ARE there ANY royalties or are writers (again, NOT you) just paid a flat fee?
3) Are there any Star Trek novel writers who earn a living only by writing Star Trek novels. (Please remember, I am NOT inquiring at all about your own employment situation.)
I’d love to have a writer respond. If NOT, that’s fine. No problem. Accepted.
I’d like some non-writers to respond if they have any knowledge.
For Trek novels, one generally gets an advance against royalties, and then a royalty rate which is generally fixed at around 3% of the cover price of each book sold.
But every contract is different from every other contract. However, that's the usual structure.
There aren't enough Trek novels published for anyone to make a living just doing that.
But every contract is different from every other contract. However, that's the usual structure.
There aren't enough Trek novels published for anyone to make a living just doing that.
1) it’s a percentage against the cover price — so 3% of $16, the cover price of the current trade paperbacks.
2) it’s probably been decades since Trek novels shifted 100,000 copies. Sales figures are a closely-guarded trade secret, but I’ve been led to believe it’s lower.
One more thing: The author doesn't start receiving royalties until after the book has earned out its advance. So if, hypothetically, the author was paid an advance of $10,000, they don't see a penny of royalties until after that initial $10K is paid off. So, in your example, the author would only get $26K in royalties since they were already paid $10K in advance.
In general, your advances are what you count on. Any extra royalties are gravy.
Meanwhile, I believe Peter David is the most prolific STAR TREK novelist.
So don't quit your day job.
So that’s what an “advance” is. Thank you. If a book’s sales don’t cover the advance does the author have to return some money?
I hope you’re not directing your remark to the established Star Trek novelists here!
P
Peter David. I remember that name from the 1990s, when the novels listed all the books in print up to that time on the first few pages before the colophon. There were around 200 books In print by the end of the millennium. I think David had an entire series of books that were spin-offs of the main storylines and he got to create his own characters. Maybe Garth of Izar and something with lots of subtitles, like “Star Trek: Generations: Errand of Mercy: Harbinger of Destiny”, or something similarly melodramatic. What a guy!
No, no, no! Basically, the publisher makes its best guess at what the book will earn in royalties and pays the author that amount as an advance. If the book sells better than anticipated, the author gets some extra cash down the road. If the book's sales disappoint . . . well, the publisher paid too much and eats the difference. Just the cost of doing business.
This is not unique to STAR TREK books, btw. This is pretty standard for mainstream publishing, although the actual royalty rates are negotiable and depend a lot on what kind of book you're talking about.
Ok
O.K. Thanks again for your (adamant!) answer.
I love this place. I learn something every half-day.
O.K. Thanks again for your (adamant!) answer.
I love this place. I learn something every half-day.
What can I say? The thought of an author having to give money back to a publisher shocks me to my core!
It's worth pointing out that the advance is often broken up into chunks; it's been a decade for me, so I could be mistaken, but I think for S&S Star Trek books, it's one third on signing the contract, one third on outline approval, and one third on manuscript acceptance.
Anyway, there was a high profile case a few years ago where S&S did sue to get back the advances from authors who never actually submitted their manuscripts. But those were celebrity authors getting million-dollar advances.
Anyway, there was a high profile case a few years ago where S&S did sue to get back the advances from authors who never actually submitted their manuscripts. But those were celebrity authors getting million-dollar advances.
I think you forfeit the delivery & acceptance advance if you don't actually deliver. But you should get to keep the signing and outline advances, because you fulfilled those parts of the contract.
And the royalty is based on books sold at retail? Returns/remainders are not counted for royalty calculation, I believe?
This is all very interesti g. I do songwriter performance royalty management for me and my daughter, so I like hearing other businesses.
And btw, I never had any compunction about discussing teacher wages for 30 years. No need for this to get invasive personally, but this is one of the rare corners of existence (bbs) where people still read books, so we're curious of the game in which we are end users.
This is all very interesti g. I do songwriter performance royalty management for me and my daughter, so I like hearing other businesses.
And btw, I never had any compunction about discussing teacher wages for 30 years. No need for this to get invasive personally, but this is one of the rare corners of existence (bbs) where people still read books, so we're curious of the game in which we are end users.
