Scott Schultz wrote: >I stopped into a local B. Dalton (apparently they're really Barnes and Noble >behind the scenes these days) while my daughter was shopping yesterday. They >had a selection of around ten "store employees' picks" up on the wall behind >the cash register. I was surprised and pleased to see that _The Phoenix >Guards_ was prominently displayed up there with the non-fantasy and >non-fiction picks. > >It made me wonder, because I've never really understood how the whole >publishing thing works - how do sales of books translate into royalties for >authors? When a book goes into multiple printings, is the author still paid >an advance for each printing or is it somehow computed based on actual >sales? > > Stephen King asks for $1 advances. He can do this because he knows that the publishers won't take his advance into account when they budget how much money they will spend promoting his book. And he doesn't need the money up front.