The major problem for authors right now is they are being held hostage by the publishers, getting 15 percent royalty on an ebook. So of course they would rather get 15 percent of the $25 hardcover than 15 percent of the $10 ebook.
But the truth is they are the content creators and owners, and they should be getting at least 50 percent of their ebook profits. But right now pretty much every paper deal locks them into that paltry ebook royalty rate for a long, long time, maybe for the entire life of copyright, because there's no reason for an ebook to ever go out of print.
The authors are really caught right now, and under this muggery they are pretty much forced to side with publishers and hope paper books dominate the market. Unfortunately for them, if they have signed away most of their entire catalog for these low royalty rates, when ebooks drop down to their natural price (I can't see it staying more than $4.95 for long), they will be getting peanuts while the publishers are still raking it in. Even if paper books fade fast in the next five years, savvy publishers have been hoarding electronic rights since the turn of the century and stand to make out pretty good regardless.
The authors aren't talking about it, and their agents sure aren't going to look out for them...especially when that author can bypass both publisher and agent and get 70 percent from Amazon. It will be a very interesting summer when that rate kicks in.
Scott Nicholson
The Skull Ring and The Red Church