That means i a supermarket discounts a 6

They are engaged in li e and producing better work as a result Just think o Trollope, it is what he did. But, as agent Heather Holden Brown points out, that may not be such a bad thing. "I think that the best books are o ten written within the pressures o daily li e," she enthuses. "I know a historian who also writes no els, whose last book has still not earned back its ?15,000 ad ance e en though it has sold 40,000 copies, because his books are being sold at such a high discount," historian Antony Bee or umes. "When you consider the amount o time it takes to write the book he would be better o working the till in Sainsbury's."No one spoken to or this article could see the situation changing. That means i a supermarket discounts a ?6.99 paperback to ?3.99, the author will recei e 7.5 per cent o ?3.99 not ?6.99 on sales through that outlet.It also means e en more copies need to be sold be ore a book earns out. In other words, o a ?100,000 ad ance less than hal can reach the author.The austian pact struck between certain retailers and publishers means that increasing numbers o authors are inding their earnings under threat, not least because increasingly royalties are calculated on trade price, not co er price, to re lect the le el o discount o ered retailers.

Usually they are based on a two-book deal, and the ull amount is paid o er the time taken to deli er both books. An author will recei e a third on signature, a third on deli ery o manuscript and the balance on publication, or when the second book is deli ered, i the irst book ailed to earn back the ad ance. When the headline-grabbing ?100,000 deal is broken down to ?35,000 paid o er three years rom pitch to publication, comparisons with lottery wins are inappropriate.Elizabeth Buchan points out that ad ances include an agent's ee o 15 per cent, up to 40 per cent in tax and other costs. Ad ances ha e long been structured in a way that, when analysed, makes the amounts reported ar less spectacular than at irst appears, and certainly makes writing as a career ar less lucrati e than ilm or music. Sometimes more money is on the table, but it rarely matches the amount lost rom ancillary sales.Suddenly the igures written up in newspaper reports appear less dramatic, especially when measured against the time it takes to write and publish a book.

Whereas an agent pre iously could expect to sell UK and Commonwealth rights to a British publisher or, say, ?30,000 and then make a pro it by selling US and Canadian rights and bundles o oreign, ilm and audio rights separately, that ?30,000 will co er world rights thus seriously reducing their income. "Certain publishers are trying to bring ad ances down but they are not necessarily doing it by o ering less, but by asking or more when they acquire rights in a book."This is a serious blow or authors' potential income. "But are you demanding more rights?" With a shrug they answered, "Well, yes, o course. But we aren't paying less."Ad ances are indeed being cut, obser es the agent Clare Alexander, president o the Association o Authors. She swapped agent and mo ed to Penguin, which was undaunted by her track record.