Quote:
Originally Posted by abookreader
I'd appreciate it if somebody could tell me why this would be a thing for authors to cheer over?
I've always been under the impression that Authors were ecstatic when they'd wake up one morning and find out that Amazon had discounted their book.
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Not always - it depends what royalty option they've selected. When you publish via Amazon's DTP interface, you can select either 35% or 70% royalties.
If you select 35% royalties, you undertake not to sell the book anywhere else at a lower price. If Amazon decides to discount your book, you still get 35% of the
list price.
If you select 70% royalties, you undertake not to sell the book anywhere else at a lower price, and that the ebook is priced at least 20% lower than any print edition you sell anywhere. If Amazon decides to discount your book, however, you get 70% of the
discounted price, not the list price.
Most commonly, Amazon discounts these Kindle books to match a lower price found elsewhere. This has resulted in some authors losing royalties because of aggressive discounting by other online retail stores (such as B&N) which the author had no control over, and Amazon discounting to match. Some authors have ended up setting a list price for B&N, Kobo, etc, several dollars higher than the Kindle list price, simply to try and avoid this happening.
Of course, there are many authors who see having their book discounted as a good thing, since it might encourage some to buy their book who might not have considered it otherwise. Others, though, feel they should be able to have more control over what their book is sold for, and simply see it as an unwarranted loss of royalties when their book is discounted.
- Donna