where the writers are Things That Make You Go Hmm . . .
Amazon.com Amazon.com Powell's Books Powell's Books  As I
navigate the world of publishing (self-publishing in my case), I
keep learning more about it. However, the more I understand it,
the less it makes sense to me. Let me explain myself. Say an
established house published your book. You are a freshman author
and lets say–for argument’s sake–your novel will not set the
world ablaze, so you are a mid-list author. Your publisher
estimates their projected sales for the first year and how much
it's going to cost to do the editing, the cover, the binding and
printing, as well as shipping costs. Then they figure out how
much money you, the author, might make based on the royalty
percentage. This number becomes the much coveted–and even more
misunderstood–advance they will offer you. This could be as low
as $3,000 and as high as $20,000, or so I’ve heard.  So what
does that mean? Well, you just got an advance on your royalties.
Let’s say your advance is $3,00