Amazon's Terms Not Such a Great Deal for Self Pubbers

stonetools · 06-13-2012, 02:24 PM

Quote:

70%! That’s what people whisper amongst themselves when publishing on the Kindle platform is mentioned. It’s a huge number. A traditional publishing contract might only sport a 15% royalty rate, making Amazon’s 70% payout for books sold on Kindle a godsend. The good days, it appears, are here.

Or not. As it turns out, that 70% rate doesn’t include delivery costs, which can be high. That means that the total percentage that an author receives for their book can be far, far lower than the stated rate.

LINK

The Article goes on to demonstrate how this particular author made less per Kindle sale, than per Nook or PDF sale.

Expect pushback from the Konrath Collective in 3....2....1..

carld · 06-13-2012, 02:27 PM

Already posted, and honestly pretty much debunked. Charges for most ebooks are like 0.05, hardly ruinous.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=181235

taustin · 06-13-2012, 02:46 PM

When they were delivering over 3G, and (at least in theory) it cost Amazon per delivery, passing it on (kinda) made sense. Delivering online, OK, bandwidth isn't free, but the cost to Amazon to deliver any file that is small enough to run on any Kindle, rounded to the nearest penny, is zero.

AnemicOak · 06-13-2012, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taustin

When they were delivering over 3G, and (at least in theory) it cost Amazon per delivery, passing it on (kinda) made sense. Delivering online, OK, bandwidth isn't free, but the cost to Amazon to deliver any file that is small enough to run on any Kindle, rounded to the nearest penny, is zero.

How much is still delivered via 3G vs WiFi? We don't know.

stonetools · 06-13-2012, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carld

Already posted, and honestly pretty much debunked. Charges for most ebooks are like 0.05, hardly ruinous.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=181235

Yeah, its a duplicate. Sorry about that. Moderators, do your stuff.

carld · 06-13-2012, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stonetools

Yeah, its a duplicate. Sorry about that. Moderators, do your stuff.

Sorry, my message comes off kinda snide. I'm really not so grumpy.

tubemonkey · 06-13-2012, 06:39 PM

Authors shouldn't have to pay for 3G delivery; Amazon should. After all, they charge an extra $50 for 3G models.

JoeD · 06-14-2012, 05:19 AM

Amazon's terms have never been all that "fair". There's a reason we don't distribute our apps on their store (although I'll admit I've never read their book publishing terms, but presume they have similar clauses)

IMO Anything amazon does relating to the publishing, marketing or distribution of your book should come out of their split. It shouldn't be considered as a pre-split expense. Even if it's 0.01$ per book, it should still be coming out of Amazon's split.

Apple supports large download sizes (smaller limit on 3G, but it's still 50MB) and the cost of that bandwidth comes out of their 30%. Of course Apple isn't all rosey either, but at least tolerable last time I compared to Amazon's.

Kali Yuga · 06-14-2012, 07:52 AM

Apple doesn't try to make profits off of content. The overwhelming majority of their revenues come from the hardware, so it's normal for them to sacrifice those margins.

I don't see anything wrong with Amazon's choice to demand a higher cut when it's doing more work on your behalf. A 5mb ebook is going to require five times more bandwidth and storage than a 1mb file, and the pricing the self-publisher sets isn't going to reflect those additional costs if they don't have to pay for it. And for text-only authors, it's not an issue.

At the same time, it's just another example of how Amazon is in this for profits, not for the sake of empowering the Little Guy.

andreabc · 06-14-2012, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeD

Apple supports large download sizes (smaller limit on 3G, but it's still 50MB) and the cost of that bandwidth comes out of their 30%. Of course Apple isn't all rosey either, but at least tolerable last time I compared to Amazon's.

We can't really compare that because iPad/iPhone customers pay monthly plans if they use 3G, while Kindle users don't... We know that Amazon is most likely overcharging with the $/MB thing (more so now that so many Kindles are wifi-only), but I guess I just see it more as a way to get authors to control their files' size.

Top100EbooksRank · 06-14-2012, 09:26 AM

The delivery fee is (in the US) charged per MB at

Amazon.com: $0.15/MB
Amazon.co.uk: £0.10/MB
Amazon.de: €0.12/MB
Amazon.fr: €0.12/MB
Amazon.es: €0.12/MBAmazon.it: €0.12/MB

The book was at 18MB. The author has cut that down to

2612 KB

So the new delivery fee is 2.6 MB x $0.15 = $0.39

I guess he's a newbie at self-publishing and didn't read the TOS carefully. Now that he knows better, he wisely cutting down from 18MB to 2.6MB. This will gain him a lot of money.

The thread titles should be:

Amazon's Terms Not Such a Great Deal for Self Pubbers

Who Put out a 18MB File

Now wised up

Cut it down to 2612 KB

And gained a $2.19 per Kindle Sales

-----
by not doing this beforehand because he didn't read the TOS, he lost $2.19 per ebook sold. I guess better late than never. At least he got a lot of publicity out of this (50,000+ hits according to his other post).

TheJohnNewton · 06-14-2012, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

...it's just another example of how Amazon is in this for profits, not for the sake of empowering the Little Guy.

It's a for profit business. Unless by "the Little Guy" you mean Jeff Bezos why would anyone think otherwise?

Top100EbooksRank · 06-14-2012, 09:36 AM

$9.99 ebook

Amazon pays 70% royalties = $6.99
Nook pays 65% royalties = $6.50

Amazon usually charges a $0.07 for delivery fee (for around 500KB ebook, most books by self pubs are in this range or lower)
Nook charges $0 for delivery fee

So who is better for self publishers?

Amazon that pays $6.92 or B&N that pay $6.50?

heySkippy · 06-14-2012, 09:47 AM

My book is 120 MB, and that's as small as it gets. Selling for $2.99 at the Apple store, what would that cost me if I made a version for Amazon?

MikeB1972 · 06-14-2012, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heySkippy

My book is 120 MB, and that's as small as it gets. Selling for $2.99 at the Apple store, what would that cost me if I made a version for Amazon?

I think a lot of readers would choke on a 120MB ebook.

What kind of decently formatted book could possibly take 120MB?

06-14-2012, 05:19 AM	#8
JoeD Guru Posts: 895 Karma: 4383958 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: na	Amazon's terms have never been all that "fair". There's a reason we don't distribute our apps on their store (although I'll admit I've never read their book publishing terms, but presume they have similar clauses) IMO Anything amazon does relating to the publishing, marketing or distribution of your book should come out of their split. It shouldn't be considered as a pre-split expense. Even if it's 0.01$ per book, it should still be coming out of Amazon's split. Apple supports large download sizes (smaller limit on 3G, but it's still 50MB) and the cost of that bandwidth comes out of their 30%. Of course Apple isn't all rosey either, but at least tolerable last time I compared to Amazon's. Last edited by JoeD; 06-14-2012 at 05:21 AM.

06-14-2012, 09:26 AM	#11
Top100EbooksRank Banned Posts: 304 Karma: 6102528 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: Kindle	The delivery fee is (in the US) charged per MB at Amazon.com: $0.15/MB Amazon.co.uk: £0.10/MB Amazon.de: €0.12/MB Amazon.fr: €0.12/MB Amazon.es: €0.12/MBAmazon.it: €0.12/MB The book was at 18MB. The author has cut that down to 2612 KB So the new delivery fee is 2.6 MB x $0.15 = $0.39 I guess he's a newbie at self-publishing and didn't read the TOS carefully. Now that he knows better, he wisely cutting down from 18MB to 2.6MB. This will gain him a lot of money. The thread titles should be: Amazon's Terms Not Such a Great Deal for Self Pubbers Who Put out a 18MB File Now wised up Cut it down to 2612 KB And gained a $2.19 per Kindle Sales ----- by not doing this beforehand because he didn't read the TOS, he lost $2.19 per ebook sold. I guess better late than never. At least he got a lot of publicity out of this (50,000+ hits according to his other post). Last edited by Top100EbooksRank; 06-14-2012 at 09:32 AM.

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06-13-2012, 02:27 PM	#2
carld Wizard Posts: 2,698 Karma: 4748723 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Already posted, and honestly pretty much debunked. Charges for most ebooks are like 0.05, hardly ruinous. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=181235

06-13-2012, 02:46 PM	#3
taustin Wizard Posts: 1,358 Karma: 5766642 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Nook	When they were delivering over 3G, and (at least in theory) it cost Amazon per delivery, passing it on (kinda) made sense. Delivering online, OK, bandwidth isn't free, but the cost to Amazon to deliver any file that is small enough to run on any Kindle, rounded to the nearest penny, is zero.

06-13-2012, 06:39 PM	#7
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,763 Karma: 158733736 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	Authors shouldn't have to pay for 3G delivery; Amazon should. After all, they charge an extra $50 for 3G models.

06-14-2012, 07:52 AM	#9
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Apple doesn't try to make profits off of content. The overwhelming majority of their revenues come from the hardware, so it's normal for them to sacrifice those margins. I don't see anything wrong with Amazon's choice to demand a higher cut when it's doing more work on your behalf. A 5mb ebook is going to require five times more bandwidth and storage than a 1mb file, and the pricing the self-publisher sets isn't going to reflect those additional costs if they don't have to pay for it. And for text-only authors, it's not an issue. At the same time, it's just another example of how Amazon is in this for profits, not for the sake of empowering the Little Guy.

06-14-2012, 09:36 AM	#13
Top100EbooksRank Banned Posts: 304 Karma: 6102528 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: Kindle	$9.99 ebook Amazon pays 70% royalties = $6.99 Nook pays 65% royalties = $6.50 Amazon usually charges a $0.07 for delivery fee (for around 500KB ebook, most books by self pubs are in this range or lower) Nook charges $0 for delivery fee So who is better for self publishers? Amazon that pays $6.92 or B&N that pay $6.50?

06-14-2012, 09:47 AM	#14
heySkippy Groupie Posts: 182 Karma: 1316076 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Florida Device: iPad	My book is 120 MB, and that's as small as it gets. Selling for $2.99 at the Apple store, what would that cost me if I made a version for Amazon?