Author advances have long been a defining feature of traditional publishing. But in today’s evolving landscape, the role of the advance is far from uniform. IBPA has published a detailed explanation of the publishing models discussed in this article (traditional publisher, hybrid publisher, publishing services provider) in its Guide to Publishing Business Models and Pathways. Download it at ibpa-online.org/page/PublishingMAP.

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Why Advances Still Matter 

A small press publisher makes the case for author advances as a signal of legitimacy and professionalism.

by Shahid Mahmud

The “traditional” publishing model in the US and UK emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, introducing two key concepts: author advances and structured royalty payments. A publishing advance is a nonrefundable, upfront payment from the publisher to the author—essentially an “advance” against future royalties based on the publisher’s estimate of future sales. Since the advance is nonrefundable, the primary risk for the book shifts to the publisher, as the author will receive at least a minimum guaranteed payment.

“Vanity” presses co-existed with these more traditional publishers. Authors typically paid for all aspects of producing the book and were responsible for selling or distributing it. Hence the term “vanity”—these were typically thought of as passion projects for authors whose books were deemed unpublishable by traditional presses. There were exceptions, one of the most notable being A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Recent advances in technology—led by the rise of e-books, print-on-demand (POD), and easy-to-use platforms like Amazon’s KDP and IngramSpark—have had a dramatic impact on the publishing landscape. They have made it much easier for writers to self-publish, as well as for smaller publishing houses to be established by leveraging these technologies. These small presses use such tools to keep costs manageable and avoid inventory issues, since e-books require no stock and POD books are printed only after a sale.

If one knows the landscape well, it is extremely cheap to publish a book, particularly if the publisher is not concerned about quality (i.e., proper editing, design, etc.).

This has led to the rise of numerous so-called “publishers” who essentially dump any book they receive into these low-cost, almost free, production systems. Their main source of income is the author, who is encouraged to either buy copies for themselves or pay for marketing and other “services.”

One thing such operations will never do is pay an advance, since their business model relies on the money flowing from the author to them. This becomes an immediate validating signal for writers: If a press pays an advance, the probability that it is a legitimate operation is very high.

This does not mean that any press not paying an advance is dishonest or doing poor work. Many small presses simply do not have the financial means to offer advances, no matter how committed they are to the book. Advances are just one (very visible) signal of legitimacy. They are important, but by no means the only one.

In fact, the modern publishing landscape includes a wide range of models—from old-school vanity presses to hybrid publishers (where costs are shared) to traditional houses. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these models, even those requiring payment from the author, if there is full disclosure and transparency. The problem arises when a company misrepresents its business model or intentions, and many do.

I do feel that most (if not all) legitimate presses that are not following a hybrid/partnership model can probably afford small advances (e.g., $100) for a book the author has likely spent months—if not years—creating. Psychologically, even this small commitment helps solidify the relationship between writer and publisher.

Arc Manor will nearly always pay advances for new works (there have been exceptions for various reasons) and very occasionally for reprinting previously published titles. I believe this has helped us substantially by differentiating us from many other (equally legitimate) small presses and giving us access to authors and works we might not otherwise reach. Arc Manor has two full-time staff (plus freelancers), yet the quality of submissions we receive is outstanding. How outstanding? So far in 2025, one of our novels was nominated for the Nebula Award, another for the Prometheus Award, and an anthology for the World Fantasy Award. In past years, our wins include IBPA’s Benjamin Franklin Award, the Nebula (short story), and the World Fantasy Award. We have also been nominated twice for the Hugo Award. (As you may have guessed, we publish primarily speculative fiction.)

So yes, I am a believer in advances, for several reasons. Primarily, they validate the publisher-writer relationship in a traditional sense, but they also strengthen the press itself over time. If a publisher is truly serious about the business, they should definitely consider offering some form of advance to their authors.

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Leading with Generosity

This indie publisher pays generous advances to all authors—and sees it as a long-term investment in trust and equity.

by Aude A. Gwendoline  

If you’re a small, indie publisher like me, chances are that you mingle with bookstore owners, authors, librarians, illustrators, literary agents, and fellow publishers a lot. On numerous occasions, I have heard an emerging author wishing that they had received an advance from their publisher. Yes, it was great to finally be published, but it felt like something was missing. I guess the disappointment that clouded their joy about their accomplishment stuck with me, and when I drafted the very first contract of the very first unpublished author whose book had found its way into my company’s catalogue, I had zero hesitation. I would not only pay an advance but a generous one. In France, where the author lives, advances on picture books range from €500 to €2,500 for accomplished authors. I set the bar at €1,500 and I don’t regret it.

What’s the rationale behind this, besides wanting to make authors happy? First, writing a book is work, and work deserves to be paid. By paying an advance, I feel like I’m not only paying an author for their work and what they’ve accomplished but also helping them feel more professional. I remember a phone call with one of them—when I told the author she was going to be published and that she was a really good writer, that her work was solid, she almost excused herself. She could not really believe I was calling her a writer, that is, in this case, someone professional who actually makes a living (small or big, it doesn’t matter) out of writing. So, there she is, feeling slightly more professional. As for me, I’ve paid her an advance, and the pressure is now on me, the professional publisher, to cover that advance by doing my job and marketing her book properly, finding its readers, and being its best possible ambassador. Even if our team cannot manage to reach all our goals and hit our target in terms of sales, the author has a safety net. And this makes me, personally, more comfortable.

Second, at zOleVara, we publish both emerging and established authors, along with very famous translators, some of them having received multiple awards, the most prestigious one of them being the Governor General’s Award for French to English Translation, which one of our translators received last year. Deciding to pay generous advances to all our authors, whether they are not famous at all yet, or very well known, is our way of treating everyone the same way. It’s how we make sure everyone feels included in the diverse family of our authors. I’m not saying everyone receives the same amount, obviously, and a very famous illustrator we have recently hired requested a more generous advance than what we usually offer the illustrators of our Heartwood Books Series, but he’s been working (and thriving in the field) for almost three decades. So, we will benefit from his notoriety, too, which, consequently, has a price as well.

Lastly, it’s hard to build a whole company from scratch. I remember approaching illustrators with projects we wanted to launch, and they were cautious because there was no brand, no books, nothing. And I was asking them to commit for months, which they were not comfortable doing. Others were more open but simply unavailable in the short term to take on such huge biographical projects of nonfiction comics. Thus, we decided to build our catalogue by including foreign titles too and had thus to knock on literary agencies’ doors. This was an interesting journey because small agencies sometimes answered a flat-out no before we could even begin negotiating rights in English or in French for books whose authors they represented, while other major New York or Paris agencies trusted us right away. That might have to do with the generous advances we put on the table each time (which some of them underlined). This brings me back to this whole idea of professionalism.

There are too many sad stories out there about exploited authors by unprofessional and dishonest people. Of course, I’m not saying not paying an advance to an author puts a publisher in that category. On the contrary, though, I am convinced that every time we put a generous advance on the table for an author, an illustrator, a translator, or an agent, it helps establish how professional, serious, and dedicated we are. Time will tell if our generosity sometimes went overboard. But frankly, whatever the outcome, I still have zero regrets because this money went into the pockets of brilliant people who created books we truly love, people whose art, regardless of financial data, we want to support.

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Rethinking the Advance

For a nonfiction hybrid publisher, advances are just one tool among many for building author partnerships.

by Jennifer Dorsey

There is a saying often referenced in parenting circles: The days are long, but the years are short. It’s true. You’re deep in the weeds most days, but your kids—and time—evolve quickly into something you don’t quite recognize (usually in a good way). Our industry operates on a similar continuum. The days can be long, the work can be hard, and it may seem like nothing will ever change. Then you wake up one day, 20-some years later, and realize that everything has.

As our industry has evolved from a purely traditional author/agent/publisher model to one that is increasingly democratized with more pathways to publish than ever before, the role of the author advance has evolved as well.

From a traditional publisher perspective, the advance remains a way for publishers to invest in the author’s work against the royalties they project to incur. Many authors use advance funds for working or living expenses while completing a book, while others put that money toward publicity and promotional expenses. There is certainly still a place for this traditional approach. But as production, printing, and distribution costs rise and the need for long-term, sustained marketing, publicity, and ad spend grows in a crowded marketplace of ideas, the role of the author advance is shifting.

Shrinking margins ultimately affect the author’s long-term financial picture and royalty stake. On one hand, providing a heftier author advance at the outset of a project ensures that the author is getting a form of guaranteed compensation that lifetime margin fluctuation can’t touch. On the other hand, an upfront advance can be the only compensation an author realizes if the project does not earn out. There are benefits and drawbacks for both scenarios.

As a nonfiction hybrid publisher, I’m agnostic on the “advance or no advance” argument. After all, our model is different from a more traditional one. For us at Broad Book Press, the beauty of hybrid publishing is that we have the flexibility to meet our author partners where they are and craft an approach that best benefits our partnership. Sometimes, that means we offer a modest advance and we follow a traditional royalty structure. We exercise this option when an author is bringing a fully realized marketing campaign to the table, has an exceptionally strong sales funnel already in place, or has a proven track record with a successful sales history. Most often, we run on a hybrid model that is a partnership with both author and publisher investing in the project so authors realize higher royalty rates for the life of the book. These two “flavors” work well for us because our author stable is made of nonfiction thought leaders who are thinking of their book as part of a larger content ecosystem. They come to us with the expectation that advances won’t play a huge role in the partnership, and with the goal of earning a higher royalty rate.

For us, an advance is a tool in our publishing toolbox. Sometimes we use it, sometimes we don’t. We and our authors work to maintain a healthy mental attitude about the nature of “partnership,” and I believe that has helped us create a positive environment when it comes to issues surrounding advances and royalties alike. Ultimately, every author-publisher partnership is unique. Each one has different goals, expectations, and histories. The danger lies in assigning a value judgement to the “why” of the advance. Offering an advance does not necessarily mean a publisher “likes” one author more than another. Not offering an advance, conversely, does not mean a publisher does not believe in an author’s potential. It’s important for us as publishers to understand the role an advance has in each project plan and P&L so we can explain that to our authors. For us as a hybrid publisher, such transparency is a vital pillar in our working relationship with an author, and it has served us well.

Like all of the other elements publishers must consider when we sign a project—from cost of goods to marketing to PR support—the role of the advance is but one factor in the overall financial health of the book. Our job is to look at each book in a holistic way to create a long-term, sustainable plan for success that values our author’s contributions for the long term, 20 years from now and beyond.

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