Lars Eighner's Homepage Writers' Workshop FAQ: Q. I asked an agent am I considering about royalties. He said royalties would be 10%. How can he say this when royalties can be anywhere from 7% to 15%? Is this agent dishonest? What should royalties be?

Q. I asked an agent am I considering about royalties. He said royalties would be 10%. How can he say this when royalties can be anywhere from 7% to 15%? Is this agent dishonest? What should royalties be?

A. The agent may be dishonest, but the number is not. If I had to give one and only one number for what royalty a writer ought to expect, 10% is certainly what I would say. Yes, that stands for a 500-word essay answer that includes many things like "starting at 6% . . .," "depending up on whether it is based on cover price or . . .," "usually with an escalator after 5,000 and 10,000 copies are sold . . .," and "subject to various discounts offered major retail chains . . .."

Lower rates are generally for the cheapest pulp paperbacks. Because these books are cheap and often are widely distributed, the author may make more money overall with 6% of a $5 book than with 10% of a $20 book; the pulp book may sell many more copies. This is not to say that the author should not want the highest possible royalty, but is only to point out that comparisons of royalties are only valid when other factors are equal.

Many contracts for hardbacks call for 10% to start. Contracts sometimes call for royalties to escalate after 5,000 or 10,000 copies have been sold or something of the sort. Such a clause should be fairly easy to obtain in negotiations because it costs the publisher nothing until and unless the book is making a profit. Unfortunately, the huge chain bookstores are able to negotiate for large discounts when they buy books wholesale, and often a disproportionate share of such discounts come out of the author's royalties. Some copies the author expects to make 15% on, will actually yield only about half of that when the copies are sold to large chain stores. The author should try to limit the number of copies that are sold at such discounts.

All in all, 10% is a good guess.