At the recent Digital Book World Conference, a panel of two publishers and two agents discussed the future of publishing.  One of the most interesting topics to me was when the two publishers explained their motivation to find a new publishing model that would “avoid unearned advances, huge returns, and little return on big investment.”  One of the publishers  represented (HarpoStudios) offers its authors 50/50 profit share and a low advance, while the other publisher on the panel (Vanguard) offers no advance, but pays high royalties and guarantees a substantial marketing budget with each contract.   No matter what model eventually becomes the norm, you can be sure that there will be a dramatic change from what has been done in the past.    Let’s hope the change is good for everyone involved.  

Learn more about the conference here.