Steve Horton: Here’s some math courtesy of Nate Powell to keep in mind when signing that graphic novel deal. #comics

Here’s some math courtesy of Nate Powell to keep in mind when signing that graphic novel deal. #comics

Bluesky should have a 💔 button.

Payment on publication is some bs. Definitely go for signing/pencils/completion payouts.

All my brain does is look at the $30k and go ‘WOW! AWESOME!’ Breaking it down like this is depressing as hell.

A podcast I listen to a lot (3 Point Perspective) has talked a number of times about how basically you either need to work yourself to death, be rich, or starve (or some combination of the above) to launch a graphic novel these days. There's a lot of stories not being told because of that.

That's $2.63 an hour if you factor it in a 40 hours a week.

Looks better when you add the income from the full-time job that everybody in comics also has to have to survive.

My last comic here in Spain: 64 pages €2500 royalties advance minus 7% tax €2325 paying a self-employed fee at that time of €80 (the lowest, the first year of self-employment) x 6 months working on it = 480 (2325 - 480 = 1845€) 1845/6 = €307 per month. 🤡🤡🤡

Ouch, sorry to see that :( everyone should be getting way more

I really appreciate this - talking openly about money in comics, in books, given there's so much hidden and unspoken.

Average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the US is $1,769... But we all need to just suck it up and work harder, right?

And there will be no royalties because it's unlikely you'll earn out that advance

Earning out $30k is doable. Graphic novels are the fastest growing segment in publishing.

Doable. Not guaranteed, particularly for a first-timer who would find this information most useful - someone experienced enough to know they can earn more probably doesn't need to be told the realities of publishing. But then again, a first-timer might not rate a 30k advance.

Middle-grade and YA make up the bulk of that, and Dav Pilkey and Raina Telgemeier sales make up the bulk of THAT.

Biography and memoir is a fast growing segment as well and that’s my niche.

I’ve just finished a proposal for a historical project, so I insist in at least a 300% increase in sales along that general axis in the next 2-5 years.

Yes please! I’m hooked on those kinds of books.

There will never be any royalties. Never. I've worked in comics for 20+ years. Loads of different companies, books, deals, no royalties. Never.

I’ve earned them on a few different mass market book projects by now. Direct market? Nah.

The only comics I ever got royalties on were the ones I worked on with Alan Moore very briefly. They were maybe £25 a year for a short while. One non comics book I wrote like 15 years ago still pays me £50 a year. That's the only consistent and noteworthy royalty I've ever received my entire career.

Sorry to hear that! Things seem to be changing on that front in a positive direction.

Winning the lottery is doable, but it's unreasonable for the backbone of an industry to rely on it.

I would love to know what percentage of original graphic novels earn out their advances. It’s probably higher than prose but I can’t be certain

Thanks for sharing this. I have definitely heard "30K advance!" and felt like I NEEDED to get into that side of comics

Fight for more!

bUt why iș this a pr0bLeM, art iSnT eVEn w0rK No one fucking gets it.

Hey Steve, I'm not the best at maths but I'm a bit confused why only a 3rd of the total payment has been used to calculate the tax fee. Should it not be 25,500 x .75 = 19,125 and then this amount divided by 14 months and not 6,375 as shown in the picture? It's still a crap payment of course.

Because only a third of the payment is available to you while working on the book. The rest is saved for completion and publication.

Ahhhhh that makes sense! I didn't consider that there's no payment on roughs, but only on completion and publications. That's a terrible deal. I'm working on a comic that's about the same advance fee but it's 1/3 on signing, 1/3 on roughs & 1/3 on completion. Still it's a long wait on each payement

Yep and it encourages you to rush to get to that payment. That’s not good.

Yup 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

*lets out a slow breath* Wow. That’s… not much for the time spent.

Makes you question seriously how come so many people want to spend years of their lives doing a GN these days. They haven’t likely done the math. 🥺

In my case it wasn't a product to sell it was a thing that had to be done. Publishing, film, etc. preys on the fact that creatives would probably do this stuff anyway in order to pay us pennies on the dollar.

At that point, just become the agent :(

That's a lot of effort to make an extra ~$80/month.

6 months is a quick turnaround on 200 pages too

The artist on my last book needed 3 years

And this is generous considering that a lot of trad pubs are dividing payments into quarters and fifths.

Wow this brings back memories of figuring out years of our lives

Don’t know if UK advances are just smaller due to a smaller market, but here I’ve seen everything between £1.5k and £10k for a first time advance. Biggest advance I’ve seen someone get is £15>£20k and that’s someone more established. It’s rare.

wouldn’t that violate some sort of minimum wage requirement

Nope! Freelancers aren't subject to the federal minimum wage.

Oof 😳

If it doesn’t sell well do you owe the advance?

Nope, thankfully.

You should absolutely not be paying Self Employment tax on your gross income - even after agent fees. Writers have many other expenses that, in situations like this, should dramatically lower or eliminate their taxable income.

The hourly break down adds even more too this and this already bad.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to these kinds of arrangements, how does negotiation work for these? It seems like a bad deal that I wouldn't even consider without some heavy stipulations and negotiating.

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