Contracts and advances

This intrigues me.
There has been quite a bit of talk about contracts and such among the blogs I visit daily. If there are not enough sales, then good-bye to future contracts. And then, on the POD-dy mouth blog, I noticed she linked to an article about the "Cold Mountain" author receiving an EIGHT MILLION dollar advance for his next book.
Go ahead. Reread that. The number still remains astronomical.
And this is why this is my blog. Because I am about to air my opinions.

That is such an outrageous amount, I cannot fully leave a comment without being profane. Explicity, largely profane.
There are talks about authors receiving large advances and not even earning out that advance. I find this very disturbing.
Is there no such thing as moderation? *snickering* I know. I know. Me. Preaching moderation. What is the world coming to?

Shouldn't the houses/editors/powers-that-be start paying a little more attention to what they're doing? An advance is just that. An advance. You don't need to put all your eggs in one publishing basket. It is insane. And then you're ticked because the author doesn't meet your lofty expectations?
Not to bash the authors, because they are my brothers and sisters, but GOOD LORD! Pay a little attention. Do they really need thousands of dollars on an unproven commodity? And then the publishing house adopts this "once bitten, twice shy" crap. Spare me. YOU DID IT.
And since I'm on a roll this morning, I think other houses should put a lot more into the marketing of their up-and-coming authors. You cannot bank on Nora Roberts forever. Pity that. But there is another one out there. Maybe a handful. Waiting. Working their asses off. Giving everything they have to the career they love.

I won't receive an advance for any of my e-books. This is fine with me. Would I like one? Sure. I have bills the same as everyone else. But a forty-thousand dollar advance would freak me the hell out. Seriously. On the other hand of that, I'd work my ass into the ground to make sure the work I was doing was exceptional.
An advance comparable to the work is great. But someone needs to wake up and realize that the money will come eventually anyway. And there might be more of it if the powers-that-be start investing some into their authors before the authors are expected to shoulder the load.
Grins*