Hi, Is there any way of finding out what Authors are offered for their books? What are they likely to offer is there a standard amount? What would be a good amount of money and what would be bad, how would I know? Thank you for answers in advance :)

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Join the Writer's Guild in your area and ask them. They'll know. Also, your local Writers Marketplace annual for your country will have appropriate general figures.

If it's a print publication, there are typical royalties, although a big-name author may be able to negotiate better terms. Assuming you or your literary agent can sell your book to a legitimate publisher, which is not easy... Typical royalties for hardcover editions are 10% on the first 5000 units sold; 12 ½% on the next 5000 units and 15% thereafter. Most first novels by people who are not celebrities sell under the first 5000. If you sold 5000 hardcovers retailing for $25, you’d earn $12,500. Typical trade paperback (the oversized ones) royalties are 7 ½% on all sales. Sell 5000 of those at $15 and you make $5,600. Mass market royalties are usually 8% for the first 150,000 units sold and 10% thereafter. Sell 5000 at $8 and you earn $3,200.

Your question is so non-specific as to be almost unanswerable. I assume since you're asking what amount of money might be offered that you are asking about advances. The kind of advance that a book will earn is highly specific to each book and based on a multitude of factors, a few of which are: - What is the topic? - Are there any books on this topic? How many? - What are the author's experience and reputation? - Is there a tight deadline for this book? Bear in mind that an advance is not just what the publisher is going to pay for the book, an advance is an advance against royalties. A higher advance is not necessarily always better than a lower advance. Depending on how many books are sold a lower advance with higher royalty rate could end up making you more money than a higher advance with lower royalty rate, especially if the royalty rate increases with sales volume. A higher advance also leaves you something that you have to live up to, if you never earn out your advance and your publisher is forced to write-off the difference you will have a harder time getting a second book published than if you get a more modest advance followed by modest sales that just earn-out your advance. Cheers.

You've already had two excellent answers so I won't cover that ground but will reiterate the point that you should get an agent to stand any chance of securing a publishing deal. If you go in 'blind' you will suffer financially and probably marketing wise. The subject is all important as is the amount of books on the subject and to be blunt the 'marketability' and authority (on the subject) of the author. Expect £2,500 advance (or more) depending on the size and enthusiasm of the publishing house. Good luck, it is very tough to get published.

You get two things: an advance and a royalty rate. Don't pay any attention to the advance, it's somewhat irrelevant--it's more a measure of how well they expect the book to do. The royalty is the percentage of each sale that goes to you. At first, you won't get anything; the publisher keeps it until it equals out the advance they paid you (essentially they gave you your first year's/two years'/whatever royalties ahead of time), and if you still keep selling books, any more royalties you get will go directly to you. I have to say if I got an offer from a publisher--any offer at all--I would jump to take it. At least for a first book. Just don't accept anything from any "publisher" that asks you to pay money for anything. That's a scam or a vanity publisher.