HarperCollins’s announcement last week that Bob Miller is leaving Hyperion to launch a “publishing studio” at Harper that will use a new economic model reignited debate in the industry. If publishers move away from traditional advance/royalty deals with authors in favor of profit-sharing agreements, can authors make more or less money? Is this a sign of what’s to come in book publishing as a whole? Roger Cooper, v-p and publisher of Vanguard Press, has an informed opinion on the profit-sharing model: his house, an imprint of the Perseus Books Group, operates on that very principle.
“Vanguard was established [about two years ago] as an option for authors and agents in a very volatile, competitive and changing time in the book business. We welcome [Miller’s new imprint] and are glad another major publisher has seen this opportunity,” Cooper told PW. Vanguard publishes two books a month, in commercial fiction and nonfiction. It does not offer authors advances; instead, it pays royalty rates that are “twice as high as the industry standard,” said associate publisher Georgina Levitt. Vanguard pays royalties on a monthly basis, not twice a year, like most traditional publishers. It also puts its marketing commitments in the contract and guarantees a certain level of advertising, promotion and publicity, and buys only hardcover and paperback rights in the U.S. and Canada. “We don’t offer money,” Cooper said, “but we offer things that are becoming more and more important in publishing.”
Vanguard’s authors are generally established writers with proven track records; unsurprisingly, they’re big supporters of the no-advance model. David Morrell, whose novel Scavenger was Vanguard’s first book (it has sold 14,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan), had previously published with St. Martin’s, Dutton and Warner. He explained his decision to sign with Vanguard: “It had to do with the generous royalty rates that they pay, but the big appeal to me was the degree of involvement that the author was promised.” Another Vanguard book, Quantico by Greg Bear, has also sold 14,000 copies, according to BookScan. Bear said the arrangement works well for him, since he’s receiving royalties for his previous book while he works on his next one.
Other authors see the Harper announcement as a step in a dangerous direction. There’s been a lot of chatter in the blogosophere, including commentary from authors (see right).
For
Charlotte Freeman, Place Last Seen(Picador)
“Perhaps publishers might be able to publish more different kinds of fiction, and perhaps we could see a return of the midlist book [with this new model].”Michael Ruhlman, The Elements of Cooking(Scribner)
“What I like about it, as an author, is that I stand to make more money when my work does well.... Ultimately, I think it will allow publishers to take more risks, which I believe will result in better books.”
Against
Colette Bouchez, Your Perfectly Pampered Menopause(Broadway)
“With publishers no longer subsidizing book promotions in any kind of meaningful way, and the online venue doing away with the need for traditional distribution power, take away that advance, and I question what’s left as an incentive to sign.”Tess Gerritsen, The Bone Garden(Ballantine)
“The no-advance model is exploitative of any writer who’s midlist or just starting out. For bestselling authors who can already expect to sell well, perhaps the 50/50 split might have some attractiveness. But most authors are barely making a living as it is.”
