In other news, he also just received my first royalty statement, for the period ending June 30, 2005. Now, the book shipped in mid-June, though it wasn't released 'til early July. So this includes some sales from that (they project that they're selling a certain amount, and hold a portion in reserve, if I understand it right, presumably to allow for bookstore returns). It also includes some portions of the foreign sales (Germany, a bit of Portugal, some of France); other portions will show up later. So at this point, I don't get any additional cash in hand, but we are almost officially earned out on my advance, which Bob says is very good for this point in the process. So I should actually get a bit more money in six months, at the end of the next royalty period.
All of which means that even if your book does reasonably well, don't expect to see any additional money past your advance for...umm...two years from signing? I think that's about right. I signed in May 2004, and should get money again in March 2006, if all goes well.
Good thing we didn't base the mortgage payments on this. :-)
That’s fantastic about almost earning out your advance. There are plenty of first books (though this isn’t really your first book) that don’t do this. So yay!