When negotiating a publishing deal with a traditional publishing house, authors are offered an "advance". If you don't have agent representation or an agent you can consult, it's wise to have a knowledgeable attorney that can help negotiate this contract. Per attorney Greg Victoroff, the advance is a chuck of money that the publisher will pay the author upfront if they sign the contract. It's often based on a projection of the first 6 to 12 months of sales. It's meant to help cover the author's costs of living or finishing the book. Well-known, successful authors can be paid a significant amount of money up front, but if you are a first time or unknown author, it will be much less. One important thing to know about an advance is that the author does not earn any royalties on the sale of the book until the book has earned back that advance amount in royalties. For example, if I were to receive a $10,000 advance with a royalty rate that works out to $1 per book sold, you would have to sell 10,000 books to pay off your advance.