Writing

This term sprang up recently on authors' blogsites, and refers simply to traditional publishing.

The big names include Random House, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, MacMillan, Hachette, and the Penguin group. Smaller, but still a major player, would be St. Martin's Press. Keep in mind that within these publishing houses are imprints such as Bantam Books, which is part of Random House. So if you're published by Bantam or Doubleday or Dell, you're still part of Random House.

All will offer a traditional advance against royalties. How big a deal you get depends on your genre, your manuscript, and how enthusiastic the acquiring editor is.

Advances can range anywhere from $5,000 to -- well, the sky's the limit. Every so often you encounter a rare debut author who nets a seven-figure deal for a first book.