The first money that writers get is called an advance. It is payment that is made in anticipation of future royalties. In the case of a novel published for the first time, the usual range of advances by Canadian publishing houses is about $1,000-$10,000 CAN. Sometimes bigger commercial firms give more to a book that seems promising to them, while smaller publishing companies give less. An advance is not a reward, but a pre-payment, and you keep it even if the book does not earn enough money to justify it. If you want to compare the offers in novel book publishing Canada, you should consider the advance as well.