Authors get screwed by Agent Model

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

Here's two posts about how much Lynn Viehl, an author with a book on the New York Times mass market bestseller list, has made off her bestseller, Twilight Fall.

http://www.genreality.net/the-realit...mes-bestseller

http://www.genreality.net/more-on-th...mes-bestseller

Long story short, her net profit after a year was about $25,000, with 89,142 total sales. And the publisher’s portion of sales on the book was around $453,840. She estimates about $250k net.

And it's not like this was her first novel or anything. It's the sixth in the series, and debuted on the Times mass market list at #19.

That was incredibly useful information. This is the first major midlist author I've ever seen post this kind of information. I just bought one of her books in appreciation.

It looks like Penguin's paperback royalties for a midlist author, on the top 20 on the New York Times bestseller list, is just 8% of the cover/list price -- 64 cents per book. Plus her agents cut (15%) comes out of her percentage.

The-eBook-Reader, you've given me a lot to think about before I say anything further.

[Scott Nielsen]

Originally Posted by starrigger

With the old system at Amazon, I don't even know what that means. We don't know what the suggested retail price is; maybe it's the hardcover price, maybe it isn't. We just know what Amazon charges.

But how do you then know what you are owed in royalties?

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by Daithi

It looks like Penguin's paperback royalties for a midlist author, on the top 20 on the New York Times bestseller list, is just 8% of the cover/list price -- 64 cents per book. Plus her agents cut (15%) comes out of her percentage.

If that's standard, Penguin's offering some of the best royalties in the industry - the numbers I've heard quoted are more like 10% for hardcover, 7-7.5% for trade paperback, and 5% for mass market, industry-wide (some authors get better or worse deals - sliding schemes for high hardcover sales, for example, where the rate goes up to 12% on sales over [x] copies).

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by Daithi

I believe the industry standard for retailer returns is actually in the 30% range (not Lynn's 80% figure)

I've heard the same figure, but this may be variable by imprint, genre, and bestseller hardback vs. paperback original. She quoted the 80% as a high figure - I believe she said that her most recent information from Tor was that their average return rate was closer to 60% than 30%, which is interesting because it shows how the already-high figures for waste may increase as you move from the constructed best-seller to the midlist.

I'll freely admit that as a reader with tastes that skew strongly towards the midlist and away from titles like Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea or Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid any change that moves publishing away from the current cycle of best-seller dependence and back to the days of a profitable, stable midlist is a good one, and e-publishing, handled intelligently, has the potential to do just that.

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

If that's standard, Penguin's offering some of the best royalties in the industry - the numbers I've heard quoted are more like 10% for hardcover, 7-7.5% for trade paperback, and 5% for mass market, industry-wide (some authors get better or worse deals - sliding schemes for high hardcover sales, for example, where the rate goes up to 12% on sales over [x] copies).

Your right, Penguin does offer some of the best royalties in the industry. The main reason I mentioned the size of her royalty was that Kali Yuga and I had differed on royalty figures in our examples. He had provided examples with author's getting 30% of the cover price, and I was trying to discreetly point out that his figures were a bit high.