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Originally Posted by cjcherryh
... giving away an e-book is daily cited by some publishers as a benefit ... As a writer whose book is being thus dealt with by a certain publisher, I can state it is not beneficial: what they are doing is using it to promote their company's site, to generate sales---but I get a few dollars a year from this process, and see no added sales. Not only that, they thus hold it 'in print' and thus prevent reversion of rights. This is not a good thing.
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These two seem like contract issues with which the North American publishing industry--famed for short-changing authors every step of the way they can--is ripe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjcherryh
Of all the many copies of my books in e-book release, I have yet to see any revenue ... neither my publisher nor I have received revenues from these copies.
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This is unfortunate and obviously wrong and almost certainly illegal. I would guess it is a symptom of the eBook market's and eBook companies' immaturity. On the bright side, it should only get better than it currently is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjcherryh
and most of them are pirated copies,
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Which, let's remember, are not necessarily lost sales. Most people willing and able to read a novel they like on the computer screen probably can't or won't shell out $20 - $30 for a book. And, perhaps it is significant, you wouldn't see any more royalties as the author if these cheapskates went out and bought a $1 - $10 used copy from a local bookstore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjcherryh
Yes, it is publicity, which never hurts, but if no funds ever come through, where is the money going? Not to the creator, certainly. Not to the publisher of record. Somebody is collecting money from these sales. Who, I wonder.
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For sold copies, the company that made the sale is surely anticipating paying out royalties sooner or later. Who in the North American Publishing/eBook industry could possibly think that C.J. Cherryh books can be sold without subsequent royalty payments? You're no unknown.
I would think that once your Publisher begins correspondence with the companies in question, some monies will be forthcoming... though who knows when? Given that the entire North American publishing industry is still operating on depression era stop-gap measures of "pay for books we ship you only after sale to customer, when you eventually get around to it" means prompt payments are not exactly an enforced norm.
And for "pirated" copies... there is no money going anywhere, of course.
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I do hope the problems you are experiencing with your eBooks, CJ, are resolved sooner rather than later. I'd like to think though that--as above reasoned--they are not really fundamental problems with the current approach toward eBooks, but rather growing pains, in part made worse by a not entirely humanitarian industry's pre-existing failings.
- Ahi