At this point, I can barely imagine getting a book advance.
I mean, it happens all the time to other people, I know – but at this point in my writing, it feels like a dream.
Truth be told, I think I am still too early in the process.
To work on a book for a year, have someone read it, and then be offered money for the right to print it almost seems like fate reaching down.
It’s just so hard to break through all the noise these days.
Maybe it always was.
Like entrepreneurship, success in art only takes one win though.
Here is Stephen King on his first advance.
My wife, sounding out of breath but deliriously happy, read me a telegram. Bill Thompson (who would later go on to discover a Mississippi scribbler named John Grisham) had sent it after trying to call and discovering the Kings no longer had a phone. CONGRATULATIONS, it read. CARRIE OFFICIALLY A DOUBLEDAY BOOK. IS $ 2500 ADVANCE OKAY? THE FUTURE LIES AHEAD. LOVE, BILL.
-Stephen King, On Writing