How do writers actually get paid for writing books or novels?

Question

i know that they write a manuscript send it to a few publishing companies, they reply saying either they accept it or not.... but what happens next|?

Answer 1

After people starting buying it, a certain percent of the profit goes to the seller, publishing company and the author.  

Answer 2

If your book is accepted by a publishing house, there will be a negotiated contract. Usually the house will pay all expenditure such as typesetting, design, printing, distribution to book shops, publicity, etc. You may be given a small payment (nothing like the 300,000 mentioned above unless you are a very well-established author), and a 'per-copy' sold deal. Depending on the book, its retail price, publishing house, your status, this could be as low as 20 cents per book sold. Publishers are ruthless.

Answer 3

90% of authors are not able to make a living selling books. Most only get a few thousand for an initial contract.  If the book sells more, the money goes up. And a literary agent gets a percentage of that.

If the book sells well, future books will earn you a better contract. Good luck.

Answer 4

It's not just that. There are more things in between. It's like building a house then trying to sell it-- pretty hard.

And yes, they do get paid. Try searching similar questions on Y!A. I think it ranges from $300 000 to $ 1 000 000. But, I don't really know. It depends on how many of your books get sold.

-tepishane-

Answer 5

Whilst the publishers do, up front, pay for all the expenses that comes back out of your advance before you start to get paid a "per book" rate, so when they offer you champagne and to fly you to the opposite side of the planet to "promote" the book, and then decide to take along a retinue of thirty people, really start to take notice, because YOU'RE paying for it, not them, they're merely giving you a cash advance.

Also these days a lot of publishers are not accepting scripts, even if they say they do (they just end up in a pile with all the other scripts), what they are doing instead is taking "primers" or "samples" which basically entails you writing a chapter, or maybe two, and then hawking it around to the publishers who read it and then tell you whether they want you to complete the book. It can be good and bad. Good because you don't have to write a whole book and then not get paid for it, but bad because it really only gets the massively, instantly, popular and exciting books published, with anything that grows slowly simply written off before it even gets a look in

Answer 6

Authors own a copyright. That means that they have the "sole trading rights" of that item. Whenever their novels sell, they get their royalty on it. Royalty is usually a percentage of the sales turnover. It can also be a  fixed amount, but generally depends on the sales of the item. Also, some writers charge writer's fee. But that is not usually the privilege on novices...

After the book is published it sent to the retailers. The chain may include wholesalers and warehouses as well.

TW K