Royalties

There seems to be little to be gained in joining the argument about whether publishers are denying authors a fair cut of the proceeds from book sales until we know more about the methodology and findings of the ALCS survey that has prompted it. But a couple of points may be worth mentioning.

So, you are about to self-publish a book in e-book or print-on-demand format. It seems like a no-brainer to sign an exclusive contract with Amazon Kindle, and up goes your book to Amazon's vast online audience. After all, presumably they own 60 or 70% of the e-book market.  Read more

Since e-books became a crucial source of revenue for publishers six years ago, the royalty rate on the format has been an ongoing bone of contention between authors (and their agents) and publishers.  Read more

Where were you last night? At the pub with friends? Reading a fantastic new book by the fire? Watching some enjoyably trashy TV? At the theatre or cinema? I was home. I spent last night drinking really nice ale and writing a memo to a publisher about royalty statements, and how they could be improved. Ah...what a...lovely image. But don't feel sorry for me.  Read more

"If a work is to be PoD/ultra short-run and/or ebook only, and the author is being paid only a minimal, or no, advance, in my view the comparison is not only with how those terms compare with a traditional contract, but also how they compare with the fact that an author can self-publish in such forms, at almost zero cost, perfectly well.  Read more