Siglark

After everything, what is the average percent of royalties that a first time writer should expect for agented vs. unagented work?

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aspiring

There is little difference whether you are agented or unagented.

For my first picture book (unagented), the royalty was 10% which was split between myself and the illustrator (she was more well known, so she got 6% and I got 4%)

For my first YA novel (agented) I get 7.5% of royalties (but that's before the agent takes her 15% cut) on the first 40,000 copies and 10% after that.

10% is pretty much the maximum royalty you can expect with a traditional publisher as a first time author - 7.5% is more common.

Edited to add: note that of course that is the percentage of books sold at the FULL PRICE - there are other deals done for highly discounted books that sell to supermarkets, book clubs and big book chains.

Mike C

Also note that many novels do not sell enough to earn royalties beyond the advance. An agent is likely to get you a bigger advance, however, than going it alone.

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