From: Norma Jean <nsawicki>
Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2005 16:26:14 -0500

Regarding Pamela Turner's posting about writers paying for travel expenses for research purposes, paying an expert to read the manuscript, and paying photo permissions for excellent photographs in science books and nonfiction in general....it is important to keep in mind that contracts for writers are not the same. In most cases, the terms depend on a writer's track record ( meaning sales); other times there may be a "house policy" a publisher will not break for any writer...a policy sometimes referred to as "a deal breaker." I was never associated with a publisher that paid a writer a flat fee...meaning a work for hire. In all cases, the terms were an advance against royalties. Even if the advance was modest, and the writer paid for expensive research, photo permissions, etc., up front, if the book sold well, the writer would receive goodly sums in semi-annual royalty checks that would more than cover the expenses incurred. Obviously, receiving handsome royalty checks does not negate the difficulty some writers may have in paying those expenses prior to publication. From a publisher's point of view, works of nonfiction that include terrific photographs, one must often use expensive paper in order for the photographs to be properly reproduced, and the book may be oversized. In other words, the "production values" are expensive, far more so than those incurred in manufacturing a novel. Unfortunately, a work of nonfiction, especially for middle grade and older teenagers, is an expensive proposition for everyone involved which is not helped by having a single market...that of school and public libraries only; few booksellers sell most nonfiction in any significant quantity...in some stores, it is "a skip." I think of visual nonfiction as a labor of love and a risk for everyone involved. Norma Jean
Received on Sat 09 Jul 2005 04:26:14 PM CDT