Quote:
Originally Posted by Dazrin
I haven't seen numbers in quite a while but the publishers generally keep between 70 and 90(+)% of the money on this type of book deal. The the 70% side for ebooks, 80-85% for hardbacks, 90+% for paperbacks. They don't need the book to cover the authors advance to make a profit. Advances, except for big name people (not saying authors since many people with big advances are just celebrities with ghost writers), are generally not that big.
|
That is slightly misleading. Authors generally get anywhere from 16 to 26 percent of what the publisher gets from the book sellers, which can be considerably less than the list price (50% seems to be common). However, this percentage is subject to negotiation as is really everything to do with publishing books - advances, percentages, etc. I'm pretty sure that the contract for the last Harry Potter book had considerably different percentages and advances than the contract for the first Harry Potter book.