FPW or the community at large...

Looked into past threads but I didn't see this posed or answered, so I'll ask here... I'd like to complete my collection in hardback, but I'd also like to see the maximum amount of my money go to compensating the author for all the work.

Given that the publishers etc probably scan the site/forums too, I don't know if FPW can comfortably answer, but which version (physical or ebook) puts the higher amount of money in an author's pocket typically? Another question that may have been posed before, but I missed it - FPW - do you have a preferred method for readers or do you even care as long as your fans/readers get the story regardless of (compensated ) medium?

Michael

FPW or the community at large...

Looked into past threads but I didn't see this posed or answered, so I'll ask here... I'd like to complete my collection in hardback, but I'd also like to see the maximum amount of my money go to compensating the author for all the work.

Given that the publishers etc probably scan the site/forums too, I don't know if FPW can comfortably answer, but which version (physical or ebook) puts the higher amount of money in an author's pocket typically? Another question that may have been posed before, but I missed it - FPW - do you have a preferred method for readers or do you even care as long as your fans/readers get the story regardless of (compensated ) medium?

Michael

There was a thread that had FPW showing what he earned from each type of publishing, or rather I should say I think there was. I will go dig around and see if I can find it and post a link here.

Here you go. Post #2.

http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/showt...hp?t=12164

Not sure if that answers the authors preference but it gives details on the formats.

I really *did* do a search, but must've used poor choices for keywords. I'll snag that final RJ in hardcover and then the Adv Cycle and get the other back catalog stuff (Black Wind, The Tery, etc.) via ebook at Amazon.

I initiated that Christmas Kindle with Soft & Others as my first ebook purchase - the right thing to do and a tasty way to do it

(thanks again!)

I really *did* do a search, but must've used poor choices for keywords. I'll snag that final RJ in hardcover and then the Adv Cycle and get the other back catalog stuff (Black Wind, The Tery, etc.) via ebook at Amazon.

I initiated that Christmas Kindle with Soft & Others as my first ebook purchase - the right thing to do and a tasty way to do it

(thanks again!)

No problem. I don't know if I would have found that if I didn't remember the post being made so I understand the search failure.

I don't think ebook sales count on the NY Times' Best Seller List, which is very important for marketing an author's material.

Hardcovers put the most money in an author's pocket.

Publishers typically give the author 15-25% of the ebook royalties they receive. That's bad enough. (I demand 25% but think it should be 50%.) But the problem is compounded because publishers are so dumb when it comes to ebook pricing.

Look at The Fifth Harmonic: I get the standard 15% of the $22.95 hardcover price or $3.44.

But Hampton Roads has priced the Kindle edition at $13.77. Kindle pays 70% on books priced below $9.99, 35% on those over $10. Thus Hampton Roads collects $4.82 for every download and pays me $1.20.
BUT
They could virtually halve the price to $6.99 and make the same royalty AND SELL MORE COPIES!!!!

OR

If they priced it at $9.99, they'd collect $7.00 per download and I'd get $1.75 and we'd SELL MORE COPIES!!!!

Win-win, everybody. But no, gotta maintain that price point.

Hardcovers put the most money in an author's pocket.

Publishers typically give the author 15-25% of the ebook royalties they receive. That's bad enough. (I demand 25% but think it should be 50%.) But the problem is compounded because publishers are so dumb when it comes to ebook pricing.

Look at The Fifth Harmonic: I get the standard 15% of the $22.95 hardcover price or $3.44.

But Hampton Roads has priced the Kindle edition at $13.77. Kindle pays 70% on books priced below $9.99, 35% on those over $10. Thus Hampton Roads collects $4.82 for every download and pays me $1.20.
BUT
They could virtually halve the price to $6.99 and make the same royalty AND SELL MORE COPIES!!!!

OR

If they priced it at $9.99, they'd collect $7.00 per download and I'd get $1.75 and we'd SELL MORE COPIES!!!!

Win-win, everybody. But no, gotta maintain that price point.

I often wonder about the price point on Kindle/eBooks. It is frustrating as a consumer that there is such a wide variety of pricing when it comes to eBooks. Most of the differences seem to come only from the publisher, and have little or nothing to do with costs associated with the eBook.

Thanks for sharing this information, it does help an outsider understand more fully about the pricing but does little to lift the frustration. I am sure it is much much worse for you being that it directly effects your income and ability to get your work out to a wider audience.

I've been reading a lot of Joseph Konrath, Blake Crouch, and Jeff Strand since reading Draculas (have been a long-time reader of FPW) and they all have embraced electronic publishing. In the author's notes from Blake Crouch's Break You, Konrath and Crouch interview each other and Crouch talks about how unfair the royalty system is when it comes to working through publishers.

Crouch - "... when a royalty rate like Amazon's comes along (70%) and a writer can make the same royalty on a $2.99 ebook as a $26 hardcover, it becomes a little less enticing to sign your rights away forever to a publisher who isn't offering a large sum of money".

No wonder that many authors are publishing their own novels and coming up with novel ways of marketing them (if you excuse the pun).

I really hope that ebooks and self-publishing really upsets the apple cart of the industry. Some of the best and most entertaining authors I have read recently have opted to self-publish.

As much as I would like to come down on the side of the author in this from a compensation standpoint I can't. As a successful entrepreneur myself, its all about value received and value given. Ex- if I can earn 1.70- 2,000,000 times or receive 3.20- 1,500,000 times(or more in either scenario), who gives a fuck. It gets to point where its only a way to keep score(at least thats what my wife tells me) LOL.

Mr Paul whether hardcover, paperback, or E-book(my personal favorite, though I have all RJs in paperback) your worth the price of admission bro.

Good Thoughts


Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end.
ROC