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Anecdotally and according to many writing blogs, in the case of the Big Five all but their top bestselling authors receive a pittance per book sold, if anything. Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Joe Konrath have experience of both traditional and self-publishing and have posted extensively on the subject. Cinisajoy is quite right to say that it depends on the contract, but traditional publishing contracts were drafted when the publisher held all the power and was effectively the only realistic way for a writer to reach a mass audience. They were terrible for authors then and, somewhat surprisingly, have actually got worse since. At one stage some of them were seeking to have writers sign addendums to old publishing contracts in what was described by some at the time as a "rights grab". Now they apparently seek an authors work for the life of the copyright and all rights including electronic rights.
Outside of the Big 5 there are some good innovative publishers who at least anecdotally are offering authors much better terms. For instance Bookouture, now acquired by I think Harper Collins, was offering its authors a 50% royalty rate.
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