I always think about A Confederacy of Dunces. It's a great book that had a hard and somewhat tragic road to getting published. Then it won a Pulitzer Prize.
That book is something else. Jones, Ms. Trixie, Gomez, Dorian... something about its cast of characters just perfectly captures the sheer absurdity of trying to make it through a day.
And part of me wonders if Toole might not have written Ignatius out a hyperbole of the worst parts of how he saw himself. I mean, it sounds like the guy was probably depressed and disillusioned with the structure of the world he lived in.
“Rinker sold Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site to Chronicle for a $4,000 advance. The title has been on the New York Times list for three years, with more than 850,000 copies in print and rights sold into 23 territories.”
Just to elaborate on other comments: an "advance" is short for an "advance on royalties".
So if the total royalties are less than the advance (pretty common BTW), they are said to have not "eaten out the advance" - and you don't get any more. If the royalties are greater, then you get them minus the advance (i.e. the royalties you already got).
There are undoubtedly royalties being paid as some (unknown) percentage of sales. The advance is essentially a loan against earned royalties. Publishers spread advances over numerous projects. The real money comes when a book sells well and the author earns royalties, unless that author is already a star and commands a very high advance like a former president, a sports star, movie star, and so on.
