Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114
That's different that being very successful and making X amount of money for writing good books.
And then seeing the X decrease even though you're books are selling just as much because all of a sudden e-books took over and your profit per copy drops despite doing the same quality of work.
...
|
I have yet to see anyone argue that authors should be making less money because it's an e-book. I personally think that authors were getting a raw deal on paper copies (which is not surprising because they've been negotiating from a position of weakness - they're already risk vested when they're negotiating with the publisher).
What readers will not accept is that they have to pay more for e-books because the authors signed a bad contract with the publishers. Having the author's cut tied to the list price for e-books is just wrong.
Take a $24 list price hardcover. Say the wholesale price is $12 to Amazon. Remove the $2 printing costs. Remove the risk of returns. The publishers are making more net profit on a $10 e-book paying the author less and trying to tell the readers they have to pay more to support the poor authors.
The publishers then have the nerve to guarantee Amazon/Apple 30% for performing an electronic transaction. If they really cared about the author why aren't they guaranteeing them 30%.
What baffles me is the authors then support the publishers and make their readers out to be the bad guy. I guess they've been drinking the kool-aid too long.