Quote:
Originally Posted by apbschmitz
Over the years I've had a couple novels published, including one by Random House about 20 years ago. A few days ago I got a note from them, asking if I want to sign off on electronic distribution rights for a 25 percent cut of future sales. Given that there are no current sales to speak of, except for whatever occurs in the used book market, 25 percent of something seems better than 100 percent of nothing. But I wonder if others out there have received similar notes recently, and what your thinking about this is.
|
You might get some income from ebook sales. But Random House are unlikely to actually sell many. They're extremely unlikely to actually spend any money marketing your book. Are they intending to re-issue the book in paperback as well? If so, are they offering any kind of advance in return for this grant of new rights?
And all that ignores the fact that big publishers are extremely poor at accounting for ebook sales. See
The Business Rusch: Royalty Statements
If you have the time and inclination, you might well be better off retaining the ebook rights and issuing it yourself as a Kindle ebook. You have to put in the time, but you get nearly 70% of retail of any sales, rather than 25% of 70% (= 17.5% of retail)