Golden Rule No 17:

Negotiating an advance

It is in the area of contract negotiation where a good agent can do most for you. A moment of truth: Unless you are one of the five per cent lucky ones, you are highly unlikely to make a financial killing with a book.

For every Stephen King there are hundreds of horror-story writers who get paid peanuts. For every Jeffrey Archer, there are hundreds of novelists getting paid a pittance. For every Sir Alex Ferguson (paid a £1 million advance) there are hundreds of autobiographies being written for little financial reward.

Anybody coming into the book-writing world purely for profit is almost certainly going to be quickly disillusioned. I can be specific. In January 2000 I put up the idea to Granada for a spoof autobiography by Coronation Street character Mike Baldwin (Mike Baldwin: Mr. Heartbreak .... The Early Life and Loves of Coronation Street's favourite Cockney). Does that sound a good commercial proposition to you, considering that Corriestreet is watched by an average 14 million viewers every episode?

What would you expect as an advance, remembering there are 80,000 words to be typed and a lot of imagination to be tapped? I'll tell you what I got, and bear in mind that I am an experienced writer with a long track record: £1,000 on signature of contract, £2,000 on delivery of the m/s and computer disk, and £1,000 on publication. That was £4,000 in all. The original offer was £3,000.

And after all my experience of negotiating, I forgot to check the small print and took it for granted there would be the usual 7% to 10% royalty after the advance has been recouped. Too late, I realised I had signed the contract without that clause included. A good agent would not have made that elementary mistake.

Another thing to check when signing your contract is whether you have to pay the publication fees for any photographs or illustrations being used. This can eat into your advance. And watch out for who is responsible for any index and whether you have to foot the bill.

The amount of your advance will depend on several factors: the commercial value of your book, your experience and standing as a writer, the possibility of serialisation (of which you would want at worse a 70/30 split in your favour), the possibility of film and/or TV rights (again, ensure that this is heavily in your favour and that you will retain the copyright).

Publishers are not gamblers by nature, but they will often follow a hunch and you just might find yourself in the right place at the right time and with the right idea. But generally speaking be prepared to be disappointed with the amount on offer. This, in truth, is when it is best to have an agent representing you, but remember you have to knock off his 10-20 per cent cut from the advance.

To balance the story of my Mike Baldwin advance, let me tell you that I have often earned in excess of £30,000 in advances for myself. With my third Frank Bruno book, for instance, I negotiated a £100,000 advance which I split 60/40 with Frank in his favour (he is bigger than me). This is more evidence of why you should consider going down the ghostwriting road.

I have pledged never to write another book for less than a £5,000 advance, but you will find that most publishers will not want to risk more than three or four thousand on an unknown author. Then it is up to you and your ego how important it is to get your book on to the shelves. Many authors accept less than they should because they are carried away on a sea of excitement at having a book accepted and published.

But remember that a satisfied ego does not pay the bills. If your idea is good enough, be brave enough to say "no" if the advance offered is an insult. Then try the next publisher.

One other thing, be careful not to lose all your money in the courtroom, which brings us to Golden Rule No 18.

Golden Rule No 17 is to fight your corner for the best possible advance, and read the small print in your contract.