MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Some authors getting a bad deal on ebook royalties?

Andybaby · 06-08-2009, 12:22 PM

I learn more here every day about the publishing industry, and unfortunately its not all good.

CJ, If someone other than your publisher is selling your books without your permission its wrong. the only person making money off your ebooks should be you and your publisher. but for many authors, a good strong freebie campaign helps sell more books. your publisher should be able to instantly tell if its "their" book being sold on any website. and if not, a simple phone call can get the book pulled if its not theirs. if it is "their" ebook being sold, and they cant give you Numbers about sales. then perhaps a bit of digging is in order, your publisher should be able to account for every dime made on ebooks. its 100% digital, payments are digital, sales numbers are instant, there are Few if any returns, and any there are does not mean a returned copy to the publisher. the Books to do this are all automatic. It should not be difficult. and it should not take long to resolve. if it takes the legal department "time" to do this... well they must really be bad at their job then

for the NYT best sellers, I've heard the publishers are getting the same price they would for a hard cover. so they should get similar royalties. but in regards to the thousands of books that go for around 5.00 each. I don't see why they would get royalties based on if it was a 9 dollar sale.

I don't think Ebooks compete on the same level with paper sales, giving away an ebook free is not the same as giving away a paper copy for free. there is 0 loss of income on an Ebook, while the paper copy can be a few dollars. Ebooks don't compete in the used book Market, and their Market retention is longer, 100 ebooks take up about 1 Micron of space, the same as 1 million ebooks. an Ebook can be sold indefenatly, while paper copies can become hard to sell there is just not as much going on.

anyone can publish an Ebook, so the author should get more money for an Ebook. the only people getting money off an ebook sale are the Author, The editor, and the advertiser.

06-08-2009, 12:22 PM	#14
Andybaby Wizard Posts: 1,279 Karma: 1002683 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: New York Device: PRS-700	I learn more here every day about the publishing industry, and unfortunately its not all good. CJ, If someone other than your publisher is selling your books without your permission its wrong. the only person making money off your ebooks should be you and your publisher. but for many authors, a good strong freebie campaign helps sell more books. your publisher should be able to instantly tell if its "their" book being sold on any website. and if not, a simple phone call can get the book pulled if its not theirs. if it is "their" ebook being sold, and they cant give you Numbers about sales. then perhaps a bit of digging is in order, your publisher should be able to account for every dime made on ebooks. its 100% digital, payments are digital, sales numbers are instant, there are Few if any returns, and any there are does not mean a returned copy to the publisher. the Books to do this are all automatic. It should not be difficult. and it should not take long to resolve. if it takes the legal department "time" to do this... well they must really be bad at their job then for the NYT best sellers, I've heard the publishers are getting the same price they would for a hard cover. so they should get similar royalties. but in regards to the thousands of books that go for around 5.00 each. I don't see why they would get royalties based on if it was a 9 dollar sale. I don't think Ebooks compete on the same level with paper sales, giving away an ebook free is not the same as giving away a paper copy for free. there is 0 loss of income on an Ebook, while the paper copy can be a few dollars. Ebooks don't compete in the used book Market, and their Market retention is longer, 100 ebooks take up about 1 Micron of space, the same as 1 million ebooks. an Ebook can be sold indefenatly, while paper copies can become hard to sell there is just not as much going on. anyone can publish an Ebook, so the author should get more money for an Ebook. the only people getting money off an ebook sale are the Author, The editor, and the advertiser.