If you haven’t seen this before, this is how book sales are categorized. It’s rare that an advance will be paid in a lump sum. Usually it’s spit up into payments and that pay schedule will be in your contract. Sometimes it’s upon signing, upon delivery of edits, acceptance of edits, and upon publication, etc.

Here’s some recent analysis:

Typical Ranges (Recent Data, ~2024–2026)

These are aggregates and estimates from industry reports, author surveys, and analyses:

• Debut/Little-known fiction authors (most common): $5,000–$25,000 (often $5k–$15k baseline for many traditional print deals). Many fall in the low-to-mid five figures.

• Adult fiction overall (including some established authors): Average around $65,000 (data from sales ~2016–2021, still reflective).

• Literary fiction: $7,000–$20,000+ for debuts; higher for buzzy titles.

• Romance/Genre fiction: $3,000–$12,000 typical for debuts; romantasy and strong commercial can go much higher (six figures reported for hot titles).

• Six-figure deals: Possible for strong debuts with auctions, platforms, or high commercial potential (e.g., viral buzz or clear comps). Not the norm.

• Seven-figure+ deals: Rare, usually for established bestsellers, celebrities, or exceptional debuts with massive hype (historical examples include some in the $1M–$2M+ range).

Averages/medians are pulled up by outliers. Many deals are modest, and advances are recoupable against royalties (typically 7–15% depending on format), meaning the author earns more only after “earning out.” Payments are often split across signing, delivery, acceptance, and publication.

Recent Examples/Context (2025–2026)

• Surveys of debut authors on Instagram (e.g., around 2025) mention averages like two-book deals around $50k total.

• Publishers Marketplace reports “major deals” (often six figures) for titles like historical novels or multi-book genre deals, but exact figures aren’t public.

• Self-pub authors crossing to traditional have seen six-figure multi-book deals in growing numbers (2025 trend).

• High-end: Romantasy and commercial fiction with strong hooks can command six figures even for newer voices due to market demand.

Notable High-End Deals (Six- or Seven-Figure)

• Shen Tao’s The Poet Empress (debut fantasy epic): Sold in an eight-way auction for seven figures to Monique Patterson at Bramble (North American rights). Foreign rights sold in seven territories. Publication winter 2026.

• Olivie Blake (NYT-bestselling author): Next three untitled novels + one novella to Lindsey Hall at Tor in a major deal for seven figures (four-book deal).

• Rachel Schneider’s Metal Slinger (self-pub to traditional): Three-book major deal for seven figures at auction to Bloom Books.

• V.E. Schwab (earlier but relevant context): 7-figure two-book deal reported in 2024, with ongoing impact into recent years.

Six-Figure Deals

• Daniel G. Miller’s Tree of Knowledge series: World English rights for six figures to Mary Altman at Sourcebooks (multi-book).

• Richard Swan’s The Infinite State: North American rights for six figures (exclusive three-book deal) to Robert Davis at Tor.

• K.M. Moronova’s Leave Me Behind (previously self-published dark military romance) + six new titles + two backlist: Six-figure deal to Christa Desir at Bloom Books.

• Leslie Rene’s Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment (cozy romantasy): Six-figure deal (two-book, pre-empt) to Sarah Blumenstock at Berkley.

• Karisa Tell’s Hello, World: North American rights for six figures at auction to Ruoxi Chen at Putnam.

In celebration of my daughter graduating high school in a week, here’s a video from the archive. 😁 She’s still my biggest fan. ♥️♥️♥️

There’s some solid advice here, even after all these years. Enjoy!

Something that I see too often in manuscripts is an eating scene where nothing happens. Years ago, I read a Writer’s Digest article talking about this. The gist was that the “trouble with tea” was that too many authors are tempted to show ordinary life (drinking tea or an eating scene) to just rehash the plot or dump information. Readers get bored. They put down the book.

So, let’s dive in.

1. Watch the video above to see how Spielberg makes eating scenes work harder for him.

2. Read this article by James Scott Bell: https://killzoneblog.com/2016/07/how-to-write-eating-scene.html

3. Some overview: https://amyloujenkins.com/how-to-write-dinner-table-scenes/

4. Remember to describe the food! If you can’t taste it, neither can your reader. To say that sensory details are lacking in the manuscripts I see is an understatement.

Making your writing work harder and smarter for you is something I’m passionate about. Every scene should be accomplishing multiple things.

With every scene are you:

Advancing your plot?

Showing us more about your characters?

Creating atmosphere?

Immersing us in your world?

Making us turn the page?

Letting us see through your main POV character’s eyes?

So, if you have a food scene (or an ordinary world scene), make sure multiple things are happening.

Do you struggle with this? Have you noticed boring food scenes in books? Are you tasting the food you’re talking about that? Let us know!

Our very own Radu Paun! WOOHOO!

You’re going to love his Q&A for Writing Day Workshops. Let him know what resonates with you!

A client sent me this today. Can you believe that Amazon has a three book limit for uploads per day? That really puts the AI slop monster into perspective.

So how do we combat this? The only way I know is to go deeper in on cultivating our relationships and becoming the best artists we can be. We will always crave the authentic, especially in a world with so much fake.

Keep building community.

Keep showing up for yourself.

And when you hear news like this that might be overwhelming, or make you feel like your chances of “making it” are even more slim, focus on the deep truth.

There is only one you and you were created for a purpose. You have a divine spark! Dare I say a divine inferno of creativity within you! There is so much you haven’t tapped into yet.

There will always be negative news, especially in publishing, but you can break the chains and change the game over yourself.

Your light will attract light. Your light will give others the permission to shine. And then that combined light will be a supernova. How amazing is that? 🤩✨⭐️🌟💫