: How Much Can I Reasonably Expect To Earn in Royalties For My First Book? I recently sent a book proposal for one of my books, a Christian fantasy, to a publisher named SUNBURY PRESS, and

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The vast majority of books never outearn their advances, so it depends what they offer you. Assume no more than that, and then be happy and grateful if you end up getting some royalties too :) but expect many years before that happens

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my first book published about 5 years ago, it was non-fiction and I Got 00 up front (which is unusual) and 10% royalties based on sales after the initial payment was earned back. To date I've received around 0 so basically you’re not going to retire on the proceeds, or even give up your day job, but it'll buy a nice meal at a decent restaurant. Eventually.

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They answer that in their own website...http://sunburypress.com/faq/

We pay royalties four times a year. The amount you receive can vary greatly depending on the price of your book, the number of units sold, and the channels they were sold in. The average published book sells about 250 copies in its lifetime, grossing around 00. At Sunbury Press, we are motivated to sell books and expect all of our releases to perform above the industry average.

Following those numbers, if you get published, and if you get say 5% in royalties that would mean 0 ...

I know that's really disappointing based on all the effort that went to the writing, but my understanding is that most self-published books fare even worse and don't earn anything

I have no quote, so consider this as opinion and not fact... I seem to remember that in more standard publishing, a relatively successful author of a novel may get a 00-00 book advance, though that can widely vary, but they rarely sell enough to cover that and earn more royalties later on
(partly due to creative accounting and inane costs tagged on by the publisher, their business model is parasitic and they will fleece you however they can)

A few authors manage to earn more, but only if the book is a success, has been republished a few times, has been translated in other languages...

Above that are the bestsellers, where the sky is the limit, but those are unicorns

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