My Take on Publishing In 2024

So far in 2024, I’ve been able to celebrate two book deals with clients.

This is great news — BUT — for both books the advance was less than $100,000. 

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’m focused on helping entrepreneurs and experts get paid for their expertise. My typical goal is to help every client we work with on their book proposal to receive a six-figure book deal. 

Since 2020, that’s happened 70% of the time. 

But so far in 2024 . . . things have changed. 

The good news.

Publishers are still making deals. 

While less money seems to be floating around, a lower advance can benefit authors that want to write multiple books. Explaining why is too technical for an email, but essentially: It makes the numbers look better, which helps increase the chance that you’ll get royalty checks in the mail someday. 

The bad news.

Publishers are being pickier.

Books and authors that would have gotten deals in boomier, more spendy times (like 2021) are being rejected now. This means that authors on the edge — could get a deal, could not — are likely better off waiting until the money comes back around again. 

My hot take.

This current downturn in advances is the result of rising inflation last year. 

In other words: When publishing executives saw the increasing cost to make books along with a slight decline in the number of books sold on their P&Ls, they freaked out a little bit. 

As a result, they decided to reduce the amount of money being spent on advances for new books. And unfortunately, lay off some editors. This has been happening for a couple of years, but it’s only trickled down to my authors and clients recently.

However — if what happened in the past is any indicator of the future (and ahem, it usually is — history tends to echo and repeat itself) this reduction in deals will result in a lack of books eventually. And that’s when the publishers’ budgets will open up again.

What this means for you.

Don’t stop what you’re doing, or try to predict which way the market is going. 

Instead — work on your messaging, prove your concept, build your audience. 

Those daily actions, while not at all flashy, are what ends up making a book proposal — and eventually a book — sell every day, in any market. 

Just ask my authors who both got a book deal this year.