Interesting article

[Brien Sz]

I came across an interesting article about advances and whether the money was worth the investment:

http://flavorwire.com/472955/debut-nove ... w/view-all

[onceuponwednesday]

[Ultimate Cheapskate]

Whenever the topic of advances comes up, there's always a little confusion on some people's part who insist that a book is not successful/profitable if the author fails to earn out his advance. While this can be the case with some books that paid out a huge advance and sold very few copies, there are plenty of books that are profitable for all involved (i.e. the publisher, agent, and author), even though enough copies aren't sold to the point of the author earning out his advance. In those cases it just means that the author was paid more than the publisher would have liked, but that doesn't necessarily mean the book isn't profitable for the publisher.

[James A. Ritchie]

[Fictional Cowboy]

[DrG2]

[James A. Ritchie]

[atwhatcost]

The part that confuses me is why do publishers offer that much to debut writers? It seems to me, even if I thought I were the next J.K. Rowling and the publisher agreed, the publisher could still offer me the usual small advance and what do I really know that I would refuse it?

What happened that these debut authors were offered so much? Was there a bidding war?