I find it strange that it seems to be just titles from Simon & Schuster. Granted, I haven't done extensive research, but none of the titles that I've looked at from the other agency publishers seem to have that extra tacked on. Maybe it has something to do with sales tax? They could be charging just a flat 5% on all titles, then letting S&S figure out how to divide it up among the various jurisdictions. I don't know if that's even legal, but it was the first thought that popped into my mind when I saw that it was a flat percentage.
|