It's been a while but for some reason the numbers 10, 12, and 15 came to mind. Checking Peter's post I see 10% so I guess some things never change, including t

It's been a while but for some reason the numbers 10, 12, and 15 came to mind. Checking Peter's post I see 10% so I guess some things never change, including the advances (come on publishers, inflation here?). IIRC authors with a track record could start off in the 12-15% range, and could sometimes get higher advances, possibly $10-20k. This is my dated info from personal experience and reading the experiences of others on the HN-equivalent technical book writing mailing list (can't remember the name and it may be gone now; the listserv was run by an agency). I don't want to seem overly pessimistic. Someone may want to write a book for the experience and someone else may figure out how to work it to their best advantage as part of a larger portfolio of offerings. As always it's up to the individual.