Quote:
Originally Posted by Geralt
Shouldn't the owner/controller want to make more money?
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Not. Necessarily.
Harper Lee apparently sat on a finished novel for over 50 years, leaving literally millions on the table.
Stephen King asked his publisher to let his first novel RAGE go out of print over concerns that it resonated with disturbed people in ways that disturbed *him*. It meant taking out of print a very popular omnibus and cost both him and the publisher a lot of money.
Plenty of other writers have walked away from publishing, for a variety of reasons, even though they kept on writing for themselves.
That said, the reason georestrictions exist is that in general they *do* deliver more money to the tradpubbed author and their agent because they sell the rights to the book multiple times.
Remember, in tradpub, authors strive for the highest advances possible, not the highest royalty possible. They value upfront money over longtail revenue and upfront money is why selling the same book five times in five regions is better in their eyes than selling global rights once. And why even indie authors will negotiate tradpub deals for some regions while selfpubbing in their home region.
It may appear to be stupid from the point of view of the reader but that doesn't mean it is actually stupid from the point of view of the author. And as the creator it is up to him to choose how to sell his product. Publishers are *supposed* to know how to best promote a book for the market they serve, to maximize sales in that region and a NY based publisher that barely knows what sells or doesn't sell in Peoria is probably not the best channel to sell a book to Ireland or India or Australia. Or, worse, to markets where English isn't a primary language.
Now, for Indie titles or niche publishers, the equation works differently; *they* do little if any unique marketting for the different regions. Becsuse they have neither the time nor the resources. For them, foreign sales are frosting on the cake. Nice to have if they materialize but they don't count on that money to pay the morgage. Which is why some of those are adopting the hybrid model of selfpubbing in their home market and licensing out regional rights.
Bottom line: don't expect georestrictions to go away soon. Not for tradpub or hybrid authors.