Wednesday, November 4, 2009

E-book royalties

Kristin Nelson over at Pub Rants has an excellent post about publishers and e-book royalties. It seems three years ago when e-books were not a very large percentage of sales and therefore royalties for an author, publishers were willing to give royalties at 25% of retail.

Now that e-books are becoming more of a market force, publishers want to change the rate structure by offering authors a lower e-book royalty rate. Publishers, what's wrong with you? More and more of you demand that authors participate heavily in the promotion and marketing of their books using their own money and resources. How much more do you expect authors to do without any kind of compensation whatsoever?

Agents are negotiating with publishers for better rates, but it is getting more and more difficult to make any headway. And if you don't have an agent and find a publisher on your own, you better read the standard boiler plate contract with a fine tooth comb because if you don't, the publisher will squeeze every dime out of you that it can.

So, authors, be wary and read all the fine print.

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