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When you say a book "earned out", what exactly does that mean, to someone like me who has no clue about writing books and/or publishing deals?


He discusses "earning out" on a recent post from his blog[1]:

> The book went on sale in mid-August and earned out almost immediately. “Earning out” is a publishing term which means that the book has sold enough copies that my cut of the profits has paid back the advance payments that O’Reilly gave me during the writing process. Which means that I’m already receiving royalty checks for real money.

[1]: http://diveintomark.org/archives/2011/01/09/dive-into-2010


It means a book broke even with the advance given to an author, so they can start receiving royalties.




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