(no subject)

[coraa]

This is mostly out of curiosity, but I do have a reason for asking....

Is there a difference in the amount of money that an author gets from a sale of a Kindle ebook vs. a paperback, and if so, which pays more? (I know that authors make more money on hardcovers, but the book in question is not available in hardcover.) Or is it a case-by-case thing?

(I'm asking specifically about the Kindle because that's the ereader I have. I know that there can be a somewhat sizeable difference between ebooks bought for the Kindle via Amazon and ebooks bought from other vendors, but for the sake of this question I'm just interested in the Amazon Kindle store.)

(Also, I'm going to be buying the book from Amazon either way, so no need to explain to me why I ought to support local brick-and-mortars. :) )

Comments

[oracne]

It depends on the author's contract. I think most print publishers right now give higher royalties on print than electronic.

[coraa]

Good to know. Thank you!

[thistleingrey]

Agreed--especially since, for some presses, Kindle editions are an afterthought. One publishing co. of my acquaintance did not actually tell all of its authors before beginning to release Kindle editions of their work, though it did fold the royalty payments into the next payment (which is how some authors found out: a line item). meh.

[oracne]

For me, the electronic and audio and certain translation rights are laid out in the contract, so those things, to me, seem to happen magically sometimes.

My agent and editor aren't involved--audio and translation and such happen through different departments entirely. (I write for Harlequin, which is a huge, complicated company.)

[thistleingrey]

Interesting--thanks. In the case I spoke of before, the contract predated the Kindle entirely, hence the surprise....

[rm.livejournal.com]

That varies contract by contract as well as based on the price the paperbacks wind up being sold at (which may different from what is printed on the book).

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. Thank you!

[janni.livejournal.com]

I'd have to double-check my contract, but I believe I get 15-30% of the cover price on the electronic editions (depending on whether we've earned out yet), and 6% on the paperback editions. (And 10% on the hardbacks.)

So for me, I earn more from the e-editions, assuming the pricing is the same.

That said, I think readers should go with whichever version they most want to own and are most comfortable reading. :-)

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. I usually pick a format based on whether I'm more likely to want to read the book on a plane or in the bathtub. ;) It was mostly idle curiosity.

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

There was an article within the past week in the New York Times about publishers and paper-books and e-books and the business practices surrounding each and royalties and such - and damned if I can remember the precise date when the article appeared.

I do remember, however, that precise royalty figures weren't given, just relative percentages. I think.

(Anyone know where I could get a RAM upgrade for my mind?)

[vexillate.livejournal.com]

My books are published via Dutton. I get royalties exactly as if it is a print version -- very low IMO for a digital sale. I think it's 7.5% of the cover price.

The NYT article retlated to publishers wishing to set their own prices for the books, and not allow Amazon to control the pricing by setting a max publisher's price of $10.

Also the publishers are (because old contracts are broad) simply siezing electronic rights for out-of-print editions, which is very upsetting to authors who published their books prior to the advent of the Internet, and wish to do something Internet-related with their works.

janni - I would like to know what publisher you work with!