How much should I expect from the publisher for a fantasy/sci-fi novel of about 80,000 words? Also, what should I expect about terms of rights and royalty?

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First, you need to be able to sell the book to the publisher in the first place. If you aren’t actually talking about contracts, if all you have done is submit an unsolicited manuscript to a publisher, you’re definitely counting your chickens long before they have hatched.

That said, you can expect to be offered an advance of between $5,000 and $10,000 for the book. This is an advance against royalties, and it is, essentially, a loan from the publisher to you, before the book is published. It is paid out in three chunks. 1/3 on signing the contract, 1/3 on having the manuscript accepted after rewrites, and 1/3 on publication of the book. You will get no royalty money until this loan is paid back. On the bright side, if your book never sells enough to pay back that money, you won’t have to return any of it.

If I recall correctly, royalties are generally about 10% of the cover price of a paperback, 15% of a hardback.

You will probably be surrendering all rights (such as e-book, audiobook, foreign rights, movie rights). Don’t even try to negotiate for them; you are a first time author and you won’t get them. Even I can’t get e-book rights, though I’ve gotten audiobook rights lately. You will, however, be paid a percentage of the advance for audiobook rights even if you don’t have them yourself, and the same is true for other rights.

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