Today, I am going to share my experience with payments in traditional publishing. This is my experience. Other authors may have had different experiences at different publishing houses, if they were offered larger advances, or if they signed a deal at a different time.

So far, I have had two contracts for books:
Heifer / Genisse : https://www.hugopublishing.fr/produits/genisse-2/
Fake Out Make Out : https://lnk.to/FakeOutMakeOut

Heifer was translated into French. It is published as Genisse (which directly translates) by Hugo and their iMPACT imprint. Translations tend to sell for smaller amounts. I am a US-based author. I write in English. English worldwide rights tend to be what people think of when they hear “I got a book deal’ Sometimes a publisher will also buy translation rights, sometimes those are not sold, so they can be individually sold. Many self-published authors will work with an agent just for the translation rights because that publisher in that market in that language knows how to position it, how the cover should look. Everything. So for Heifer, the contract stated payment on contract signing. (I have a WHOLE video on the Tax form I had to get for the French to be able to pay me – it was a process) But I was paid about two months before the book came out. I wasn’t mad about this. I think some authors, especially new authors, are upset and hounding for payment. And as a creator with a YouTube channel, I have had to do my usual battery of follow-ups to get payments from sponsors, so I get it. But getting paid is… what my agent is for. Payment is missing – ask the agent. Concerned about sales – ask the agent. So I wasn’t nervous about not getting paid. And I did get paid. YAY! Because of the amount, it was a one-time payment for the advance. It was not split.

For Fake Out Make Out – this was an English worldwide deal, so it was MORE than what Heifer sold for. (Also different genre and audience – so we’re comparing apples to spaghetti here). So IN the contract, this was broken into 3 payments

1 on contract signing
1 on manuscript acceptance
1 on publication.

But by the time we signed the contract, the manuscript had been accepted, so I got 2 of 3 paid at once.

With ALL of these payments, the publisher PAID my agent. My agent took their cut, which they earned because I wouldn’t have had either of these deals without them. And then they paid me in USD. What is interesting is that SO FAR I have had one deal in Euros (French) and one in GBP (Pounds), so both had to be converted. IF we ever get a US deal in USD, I wonder if we’ll try to do a split payment so I don’t lose money on the conversion both ways, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Down the line, as I earn out and have royalties from BOTH deals, I’ll get one payment of all my royalties and a breakout statement of – this amount from here, this amount from there. Boom.

Compared to self-publishing, these payments are far more lumpy. With KDP, I get paid every month on a net-60 delay. With traditional publishing, I get paid on my advance schedule in the contract, and then when I earn out, I get semi-annual or annual royalties.

Okay, what questions do you have about traditional publishing? Let me know below!

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