Siglark

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

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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aspiring

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